= erste SIRES = 
ear reecesearsest 2nge. ae STS TEE: 
——* 


Peete RST ET 





eT ? 


{ NOV 8 1932 

















WY eg! SA ik ee a eee aS 1X rr © 
has Nias as Sa i ae ait 4 oT a - 
4: i Le oi of r A Fi j uf nn 
Pew eet amen WTA het ; 
Vi Send yt PAS SL Rohe at why ed; 
a: > EP ah ae ot Ae. - ine i i) « 
a4 hte a mar i ' J Pe w Ai - Lf A aes hae 






il,, 
a 





Fd ‘ea 
Ditties 
F \ 





oy 2 y % 


ii ties ig oe seis ren DR tee IEE NAO ALAN OODLE RAR RIE Aenea taper tte 


i sei cine tet oe none NS Oe ERED OO AOI RA RO SAR Re IO ATRL AA OT RHE 





= 
a 
oO 


McLAU 


r 
° 


HENRY W 


wiiinntc cence arate ope een RR RAMEN RRP ete NTIS veda p-nectanestee eS iaoinereicsen tee tamer ier rete - id 









Trin NEW CALI. 


by 
HENRY W. McLAUGHLIN, D.D. 





Country Church Director of the Presbyterian 
Church, U. S. 


PUBLISHED BY 
PRESBYTERIAN COMMITTEE OF PUBLICATION 


RICHMOND, VA. - TEXARKANA, ARK.-TEX,. 


COPYRIGHT, 1926 
By 
PRESBYTERIAN COMMITTEE OF PUBLICATION 


Press or Wuittet & SHEPPERSON, Ricumonp, Va. 
1366—(1)—73110 


DEDICATED 
TO 
A CouNTRY GIRL 
Wuo BECAME My WIFE AND 
THE MOTHER OF 
Our NINE COUNTRY YOUNG PEOPLE 


INTRODUCTION 


HAT right has a man who lives in a city to write the 
\ introduction to a book on the country church? That 
question can be answered by a bit of history. 

In the library of Union Theological Seminary there is one 
of the oldest original deeds to a piece of church property that 
can be found anywhere in the South. It is the deed to 
Thyatira Church in Rowan County, North Carolina, and is 
dated January 18, 1753. This is a Presbyterian Church in 
the heart of the country, and it is stronger today than ever 
before in its history. Ona farm, within the bounds of this 
church, I was born and bred, and the church became a part 
of the very fabric of my life. 

I have read every line of this book with interest and profit. 
Its author is eminently qualified by training and experience to _ 
write with authority on this great subject. His analysis 
of the country church and the country people is true to life. 
He writes with a sympathetic and understanding heart. 
There is a freshness about the book which could come only 
out of an experience as pastor of a country church, which is 
still fresh and vivid in the mind of the author. 

The book deals with the practical problems of the country 
church in a practical way. For sixteen years the author was 
the successful pastor of a great country church. A year 
ago he was chosen from among all our ministers as the one 
pre-eminently qualified to be Director of the Country Church 
Work for our whole Church. During the past year he has 
been teaching large classes on the Country Church in our 
Theological Seminaries and in the General Assembly’s Train- 
ing School. This has given him an opportunity to system- 
atize and formulate the practical experiences of the years 


that went before. All of this has constituted an ideal prepara- 
tion for writing a book that would be at the same time in- 
teresting and practical. 

So far as I know, this is the first book on the country 
church that was ever written by a Southern Presbyterian 
minister. The books that I have read on the country church 
heretofore have not quite seemed to meet the needs of our 
Church. They were written by men living in other parts of 
the country, where conditions were different, or by men 
belonging to denominations whose ideals were different. 
This makes us welcome a book by an author who is familiar 
with conditions in our part of the country and whose ideals 
are the same as ours. 

All Christian workers, whether in the city or country, will 
find it profitable to read this book and ponder its pages, for 
it contains many valuable suggestions that are applicable to 
‘city and country alike. Besides it will help those who reside 
in the city to better understand the country church and its 
problems. After all, those who live in the city and those 
who live in the country are much the same. Our problems 
may be different, but we are all children of the same Father. 


WaLterR L. LINGLE. 


The General Assembly's Training School 
Richmond, Va. 


AUTHOR’S FOREWORD 


HE very warp and woof of this book are woven out of 

the life experience of its author. With his own hands 
he has done all kinds of work on the farm from threshing 
buckwheat with a flail to harvesting with a tractor and binder. 
He learned to plow with oxen and has watched the inter- 
national grand champion ribbon tied on a bull that was a 
product of his farm. 


His father’s fireside was a farmers’ forum. He was born 
forty-six miles from the railroad. There were many farmers 
living a greater distance who, in covered wagons, carried their 
produce to the railroad and brought back the necessary things 
for the neighborhoods. They spent the night at his father’s 
house. 


To the west of his birthplace were rich grazing lands and 
to the east wintering quarters. Every spring the stockmen 
brought their flocks and herds to the grazing lands and in the 
fall took them back to the wintering quarters. They nearly 
all stopped at the old farmhouse. There were very few nights 
during the year that there was not a large company to gather 
around the big fireplace. They discussed the problems of the 
farm, live stock, crops, politics, the Civil War, the schools, 
the roads, the churches, etc. For many a night far beyond 
the proper bedtime for one of his age the boy listened with 
eager ears to the conversations. 


His father’s home was a stopping place for preachers who 
passed to and fro on horseback and with equal interest he 
listened to them as they gathered about the blazing logs in 
the great stone fireplace. We are a part of all we meet and 
in those tallow-candle days it was not so much what he read 


as what he heard that formed his ideals and prepared him 
for the task of life. 


His two grandfathers and his father were elders of country 
congregations and he joined a little country church with less 
than twenty members. Two of his uncles had been honor 
men of Washington and Lee University. One spent his life 
as a country preacher and the other as a country school 
teacher. He drank in with his mother’s milk love of the 
country and, although during his ministry he has been pastor 
to miners, soldiers, lumbermen, factory workers and city 
people, it was natural that when the call came to the country 
he found it the easy thing to accept. The last sixteen years 
of his ministry have been spent as pastor of New Providence 
Church in the Valley of Virginia. It is a farmers’ church 
In the open country. For two years he served with Dr. W. 
H. Mills, Professor of Rural Sociology in Clemson College, 
S. C., and Mr. F. S. Neal, a planter near Charlotte, N. C., 
on a special committee to study the Country Church. From 
these gentlemen and from the investigations which were car- 
ried on by this committee, he secured many facts about the 
rural movement in the nation and among the churches of all 
denominations. For the last year he has been conducting 
classes in the Theological Seminaries, Training Schools and 
Summer Conferences. He has read 2700 papers by his 
students which are the results of their own observations and 
investigations. By their education, high life purpose and 
opportunity for observation, these students are qualified to 
speak as probably no other group. They have come from 
various sections of the world; practically every state, Canada 
and many other countries being represented. They have 
intelligently discussed the why and how of the church in 
in meeting the needs of the country in this modern day. 


Many books have come from the press within the last few 
years treating various phases of country life. The author 


has read and endeavored to interpret them in the light of his 
own experience and observation. 


This book is a call for a technique in the work of the 
Country Church that will compare favorably with that of the 
public school, the agricultural extension service and the city 
church, 


Most books on church efficiency have been written from 
the point of view of the city by authors familiar with city 
conditions and who have expressed themselves in urban 
terms upon city needs and situations. 


The theological seminaries of all denominations are located 
in the cities; observations and practice work of the students 
in preparation for the ministry is necessarily done in the city. 
There is a real need for a book written by a country man who 
knows by actual experience all the ins and outs of country 
life. These pages should prove helpful not only to those who 
live in rural communities, but to all others who are interested 
in the solution of the problems of country life. 


CONTENTS 


INTRODUCTION i A 
By Rev. W. iD eee 1g e 1D. 


AuTHOoR’s FoREwWorD 


PAR Tai: 


THE CALL OF THE OPEN . 

THE CouNTRY PREACHER 

A PERSONAL PROGRAM 

THE Country Man 
POTENTIALITY OF CoUNTRY sheet 


| edhe Sd Ne ye 


THE DISCOVERY . 

A CONGREGATIONAL erase 
SPIRITUAL LEADERSHIP 
LEADERS OF ADMINISTRATION 


Ey bet, 


FARM PROSPERITY AND THE COUNTRY 
CHURCH . é 

CoMMUNITY hun Cree 

EVANGELISM IN THE COUNTRY . 

Discovery oF CouNTRY LEADERSHIP 

RurAL RECREATION 


PART 4. 


CHRISTIAN TRAINING IN THE COUNTRY 
WoMEN OF THE COUNTRY CHURCH 

Tue Country Pastor AND Home LIFE 
HARDSHIPS AND RECOMPENSES 


PAGE 


121 
128 
12 


149 
160 
168 
178 


PART ONE 





EUAN Biel 


Wer bona la) be EL be) BEN 


N some April morning come with me on a journey into 
() the country. I will take you to a farmhouse that 
nestles among the hills. 

There the apple trees are blooming in the orchard, birds 
are singing their mating song in the trees that stand about 
the home, and wild flowers are blooming on the hills, freight- 
ing the air with their sweet aroma. 

Here once lived a lovely girl who frolicked among these 
scenes. She had the charm of chaste young womanhood. 
There came one day an alienation between her and her 
mother. It was because she had companionships that her 
mother deemed unwise. There was a crossing of wills. In 
anger, Mary left her home and mother, in company with one 
who meant the ruin of her life. 

After the daughter was gone, there was something in the 
mother’s heart that reconciled her to the estranged child and 
she longed for her return. Every night a light burned in 
the window of Mary’s room and the unbolted door of the 
farmhouse stood ajar. Each spring the apple trees bloomed, 
the hills were covered with their new vesture of wild flowers, 
the birds came again to sing their mating songs around the 
old nesting places, but there was no return of the alienated 
daughter. 

We see the mother this morning. We see her hair, once 
a beautiful brown, now streaked with gray; her form, once 
erect, now bent beneath the load of a great sorrow; her face, 


12 Ture New Catt 


once beautiful, now wan from the vigils of sleepless nights 
when, with listening ear, she awaited the return of the foot- 
steps that never came. 

Who would not like to be an ambassador of reconciliation? 
For, as the Apostle Paul says, “Now, then, we are ambassa- 
dors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: We 
pray you in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God.” If we 
only knew where Mary is, we would hasten to tell her that 
her mother is reconciled, and we, in her mother’s sted, would 
beseech her, to be reconciled. 

We would remind her of the beautiful scenes of her child- 
hood ; we would tell her of the light that burns in her window 
and the door that is ajar. We would tell her that the hands 
that held her in helpless infancy and grew callous in the toil 
of service when she could not care for herself are ready to 
press her to a bosom that holds the heart of love. 

We do not know where Mary is. She may be in the slums 
of New York City, or Birmingham, or Dallas, or San Fran- 
cisco. She may be, with life broken and mangled, lying 
languishing in some hospital. If we only knew, our feet 
would be swift for the task. 

It may be too late for Mary. If we found her, she would 
probably turn a deaf ear and we would seem to her as those 
who mock. 

We have lived too late, or we have lost our opportunity. 
It may be that her unidentified body is lying in some morgue, 
or crumbling to dust in some potters’ field. 

And what of John, who was reared in the neighboring 
farmhouse? What of John, the cause of the alienation be- 
tween Mary and her mother and the cause of the tragedy of 
her life! 

We know not where Mary is. John is serving a life sen- 
tence in a Federal penitentiary. 


Lars New> GAL 13 


MORE THAN SCHOOLS NEEDED 


It was not because the community lacked school advan- 
tages, but it was because there was no resident minister who 
commanded the respect of the high school boys and girls; 
no minister who had sufficient education and culture to guide 
in a sympathetic way their thinking; no one adequate to lift 
the torch to guide their erring feet into the paths of truth. 
No thoroughly equipped preacher was found sacrificial 
enough to give up the creature comforts and identify his life 
with the scattered people. There were none willing to follow 
the footprints of the Man of Galilee, who had compassion 
on those who were scattered abroad as sheep having no 
shepherd. It was He who said, “As my Father hath sent 
“me, even so send I you.” There were none who gave proof 
of their commission as He had given the crowning evidence 
of His Messiahship when He sent to John the Baptist the 
message, “The poor have the gospel preached unto them.” 

It is too late for Mary, and it is too late for John, except 
to bring to the Master the remnant of a disgraced, dishonored 
and broken life. 

But there are others. Mabel Carney, who is at the head of 
Rural Education in Columbia University, tells us that there 
are 11,000,000 children in the open country. The Federal 
Bureau of Education estimates that there are 12,000,000 
children in rural America, 9,000,000 on the farms and 
3,000,000 in the villages and hamlets.* Over half of these 
are in the South. 

There are hundreds of thousands out there like scattered 
sheep in God’s open, many of them with a life just as sweet 
and precious as Mary’s in her chaste girlhood days; many of 
them just as potential as that of the brilliant and magnetic 
boy who has given his life to crime and dishonor. 


*Handbook of Rural Social Resources—Israel and Landis. 


14 THe New Cay 


There is truly an obligation resting upon men who have 
been educated by the Church, equipped and qualified for their 
task, to go out into the country communities and lift the 
torch to show the right way. Our rural youth is potential, 
and if won for Christ and trained in His service they will 
become leaders in the city as well as in the country. 


“Tt is just that deliberate life of the open that this country 
needs, for the fever of the cities is already affecting its sys- 
tem. Character, like corn, is dug from the soil. A contented 
rural population is not only the measure of our strength, and 
an assurance of its peace when there should be peace, and a 
resource of courage when peace would be cowardice, but it is 
the nursery of the great leaders who have made this country 
what it is. Washington was born and lived in the country. 
Jefferson was a farmer. Henry Clay rode his horse to the 
mill in the slashes. Webster dreamed amid the solitude of 
Marshfield. Lincoln was a rail-splitter. Our own Hill 
walked between the handles of the plow. Brown peddled 
barefoot the product of his patch. Stephens found immor- 
tality under the trees of his country home. ‘Toombs and 
Cobb and Calhoun were country gentlemen and afar from 
the cities’ maddening strife established that greatness that is 
the heritage of their people. The cities produce very few 
leaders. Almost every man in our history formed his charac- 
ter in the leisure and deliberation of village or country life, 
and drew his strength from the drugs of the earth even as a 
child draws his from his mother’s breast. In the diminution 
of this rural population, virtuous and competent, patriotic 
and honest, living beneath its own roof-tree, building its 
altars by its own hearthstone and shrining in its own heart its 
liberty and its conscience, there is abiding cause for regret.”* 


A STUDENT’S RESPONSE 


The following from one of my students I think worthy of 
repeating : 


*From Henry W. Grady’s speech before the farmers at Elberton, Ga., 1889. 


THe NEw Cart 15 


“The greatest appeal of the country church work to me lies . 
in the fact that the country is the backbone of the nation. With 
a strong, well-educated farming class, trained in the precepts 
of true Christianity, America can bid defiance to all her foes, 
spiritual as well as physical. But if the contrary is true, then 
will come to pass the doleful scene which Goldsmith paints 
in his ‘Deserted Village’ : 


‘Ill fares the land, to hastening ills a prey, 
Where wealth accumulates, and men decay. 
——a bold peasantry, their country’s pride, 
When once destroyed, can never be supplied.’ 


“Then, too, a fact of primary importance in the influence 
of the country life upon the nation is that from the country 
an enormous percentage of our nation’s future leaders come. 
Dr. Newell Dwight Hillis asserted that 95 per cent of the 
_ greatest men of our nation were country born. When facts 
of this sort are noted, the great necessity for country church 
’ work is easily seen. If the leaders of the next generation, 
the men of wealth and power and influence who are now 
country boys, are properly trained in the fundamental ideals 
of our religion, then who can tell how far reaching will be 
the results? But if the contrary is true, if the country 
churches do not accomplish their work, the educational ad- 
vantages may prove a bane instead of a blessing. Great is 
the opportunity of the country church. Equally great is the 
responsibility. 


“Another source of appeal to country church work is that 
it permits one to get closer to God than in the crowded 
streets, where we have the constant turmoil and change of 
city life. In the country it seems easier somehow to read 
God’s great revelation of Himself in the book of Nature. 
There one 


‘Finds tongues in trees, books in the running brooks, 
Sermons in stones, and good in everything.’ 


“These are some of the main considerations which lead me 
to consider the country church work as one of the greatest 
fields of Christian service that God has provided.” 


16 THe New CALt 


The call is not only to the minister, but there is also an 
obligation upon the Church to support him. Men now in the 
theological seminaries seem to be willing to go into the coun- 
try when they are challenged with this task. There is a 
responsibility upon the Church to give to them an adequate 
support. They have a fine romanticism. We must not put 
them to too severe a test. 


RESIDENT MINISTER NECESSARY 


All investigations render proof that if the country church 
is to grow and accomplish its real mission it must have a 
resident minister who will identify his life in a sympathetic, 
understanding way with his people—a minister who has a 
real program, carried out in a conscientious, efficient manner. 
There are nearly one hundred thousand churches in America 
in the country and towns of less than 2,500. Forty-two per 
cent of all rural communities are without any resident pastor, 
and 48 per cent of those churches served by an absentee min- 
istry are declining.* 

Dr. S. L. Morris, Executive Secretary of Home Missions 
in the Presbyterian Church, United States, says: 


“The absentee pastor must be discarded. The professional 
preacher who comes once a month, chiefly to augment his 
salary, is a mere makeshift, a hireling minister. If the coun- 
try is to be resuscitated, the church must produce a new order 
of ministry. The spirit of Christ must again become incar- 
nate among men. Ministers who live where they do not 
preach, and preach where they do not live, should be barely 
tolerated. Men who consider themselves ‘buried alive’ in a 
country charge should be discharged. If college-bred and 
seminary-trained men are unwilling to serve, except in a city 
charge, prayer must be made to the Lord of the Harvest to 
raise up a new order of ministry ‘taught of the Spirit’ and 


*Handbook of Rural Social Resources.—Israel and Landis, p. 66. 


PHEINEWRGALE 17 


‘filled with the Holy Ghost.’ Definite sacrifices must be 
made. The Rural Survey remedy prescribes: “The preacher 
and his family must make their sacrifices as definitely as if 
they went to China or to Africa to preach the Gospel.’ It is 
easier to die a martyr’s death than to endure the lifelong 
martyrdom of a sacrificial life in an obscure pastorate. If 
‘volunteers’ wish to test the extent of their sacrifices and the 
reality of their heroism, let them deny themselves the privi- 
lege of going to the foreign field and yield themselves in real 
sacrifices for destitute country places, where the people ‘are 
scattered abroad as sheep having no shepherd.’ Let the 
Church challenge her most promising men, and see how many 
will respond. If the Church can secure volunteers of this 
character, it would be comparatively easy to save the country 
church.” 


THE MAKERS OF MEN 


Who can estimate the influence of the Scotch preachers, 
Rev. James Thomas and Rev. Archibald Campbell, upon the 
construction of our American institutions and the establish- 
ment of the Federal Constitution? They were the teachers 
and spiritual advisers of the country lad, John Marshall. 
Senator Albert Beveridge, in his monumental work of four 
volumes on John Marshall, says: 


“Lucky for John Marshall and this country that he was not 
city born and bred; lucky that not even the small social activi- 
ties of a country town drained away a single ohm of his 
nervous energy or obscured with lesser pictures the large 
panorama which accustomed his developing intelligence to 
look upon big and simple things in a big and simple way.” 


When John was about twelve to fourteen, James Thomas 
lived in the home of Thomas Marshall. Mr. Beveridge says: 


“The young Scotch deacon returned Thomas Marshall’s 
hospitality by giving the elder children such instruction as 
occasion offered, as was the custom of parsons, who always 


18 Tue New CatLtyi 


were teachers as well as preachers. We can imagine the 
embryo clergyman instructing the elder son under the shade 
of the friendly trees in pleasant weather or before blazing 
logs in the great fireplace when winter came. While living 
with the Marshall family, he doubtless slept with the children 
in the half-loft of that frontier dwelling.” 


The preachers who minister to lads and lassies in the coun- 
try today shape the destinies of the nation of tomorrow. If 
Samuel Davies had not preached to a country boy by the 
name of Patrick Henry, American history might have been 
far different. 


“The time of Mr. Davies’ labors in Virginia embraced that 
interesting part of Patrick Henry’s life, from his eleventh to 
his twenty-second year.’’* 


“Tt was under the influence of such a man that Patrick 
Henry came in the impressionable age of twelve. One of the 
places at which Mr. Davies preached was known as “The 
Fork Church,’ and here Mrs. John Henry, who became a 
member of his church, attended regularly. She was in the 
habit of riding in a double gig, taking with her young Patrick, 
who, from the first, showed a high appreciation of the 
preacher. Returning from church, she would make him give 
the text and a recapitulation of the discourse. She could 
have done her son no greater service.”’** 


THE CHARAGTH RETA CTO hx, 


Thirty-nine years ago Henry W. Grady electrified his audi- 
ence in New York and startled the nation by his speech on 
“The New South.” 


Today there is a New Rural South of which Grady never 
dreamed. The United States Department of Agriculture, the 


Agricultural Experiment Stations, the efficient Agricultural 
*William H. Foote, Sketches of Virginia, pp. 304- 


tb 
**William Wirt Henry, “Life, Correspondence and Speeches of Patrick Henry,” 
Vol. I, pp. 15-16. 


LHe NEw CALL 19 


Colleges with their tens of thousands of students, learning 
how to deal with the problems of the country, the agricul- 
tural and home demonstration agents, carrying the gospel of 
rural improvement, have come into being since his day. We 
are in the midst of a great rural renaissance. The farmers’ 
problems are holding the middle of the stage in Washington. 
Our laws should secure to them equitable rights and just re- 
turns for their labor. But in the last analysis, the School and 
the Church are the contributing factors that will solve the farm- 
ers’ problems and save a rural America. The public school is 
making rapid strides in becoming efficient. The Church and 
the School must work together. The school develops the in- 
tellect, but for well-rounded character the Church must make 
- her contribution. The greatness of a nation depends upon 
the character of its people. The country church is the great 
character factory. Ten denominations have established a 
Country Church Department, eight of which have secretaries 
for full time. The Presbyterian Church, U. S. A., was the 
first to establish such a service (1909) and called Dr. Warren 
H. Wilson, the nestor of this new movement, as Director of 
Town and Country Church Department. Dr. Wilson is the 
author of many books and is considered the leading authority 
in this field of service and research. The hope of a nation 
is to have a sufficient number of the right kind of rural com- 
munities ; the right kind of a rural community must have the 
right kind of a country church; the right kind of a country 
church must have an educated, cultured minister consecrated 
definitely to the task. He must identify his life with the 
scattered people of God’s open. He must have a sympathetic 
understanding of their problems and needs. 


The requisite of the age is to enlist and send to the church 
in the wildwood, the wayside church, the church in the grove 
beside the road, a ministry equipped and qualified to put on 


20 THe New Cary, 


a program to meet the needs of the country people of this new 
age; a program that will attract from the crowded streets of 
the cities people who love to worship in the quiet spots 
“where nature blends with music sweet to lift the soul from 
care.” Who will heed the call of the open? 


QUESTIONS 


1. Why do the country districts demand an educated and cultured 
ministry? . 

2. Why should the Church provide funds adequate to maintain a 
qualified and equipped ministry alongside every rural high 
school? 

3. Why is it necessary to provide a resident ministry for the country 
churches ? 


CHAPTERSIL 
THE COUNTRY PREACHER 


LL honor to the country preachers of yesterday! 
A They stayed in their place and did their work without 
praise. They were “unknown, unhonored and unsung.” 
They held the lamp that lighted the paths of youth who today 
have become the world leaders in Church and State. The 
greatest character factories that the world has seen have been 
our country churches. The self-denying, self-sacrificing 
ministers, more than any other agency, have been the builders 
_of these centers of gracious influence. They have builded 
-more wisely than they knew. 


These country ministers believed the message they 
preached. Their lives were the embodiment of it. Their 
loyalty to nation and Church was surpassed only by their 
devotion and sacrificial consecration to the Master. 


Dr. Jeff D. Ray, Professor of Sociology and Homiletics in 
the Southwestern Baptist Seminary, in describing the coun- 
try preacher, says: 


“He is the sympathetic, appreciative, sincere, warm-hearted 
apostle of the plain people. He knows their foibles, their 
frailties, their faults, and has the courage to rebuke them, 
both publicly and privately, and often has an almost uncanny 
shrewdness in correcting and reforming them. He knows 
their problems and lends a brother’s skillful hand in solving 
them. He knows their troubles, their sorrows, their heart- 
aches, and knows how in a non-professional way, but tactful, 
way to assuage them. Without his miraculous power to raise 
the dead, the country preacher has been to many simple rural 
homes what Elisha was in the home of the Shulamite farmer 
long ago. Multitudes of farmers have found that the whole- 
some influence of the sturdy preacher in the home has far 


a2 THe NEw CALL 


outweighed the expense of building and maintaining a 
‘prophet’s chamber’ for him. 


“But knighting him the apostle of the plain people must 
not lead to the erroneous conclusion that he is an agitator 
arraying the poor against the rich and fomenting strife be- 
tween them. Now and then a city preacher loses his head 
and plays that role, but our brother of the country church is 
notably free from it. To him a ‘man’s a man,’ if he is a man, 
without reference to the accident of wealth or poverty.” 


In the past, many great preachers gave their lives, in whole 
or in part, to the country church. Dr. Robert L. Dabney, 
Dr. Benjamin M. Smith, Dr. G. B. Strickler, all distinguished 
professors in Union Theological Seminary of Virginia, served 
as pastors in Tinkling Spring, an open country church seven 
miles from Staunton, Va. At present there are not many 
ministers who are in country pastorates because it is their 
deliberate choice. The vacancy problem is a rural one. Many 
country churches are dying because of an absentee or ineff- 
cient ministry. Every country church that I know, or have 
been able to learn about, which has a wise, sacrificial, conse- 
crated minister who is giving himself voluntarily to the task 
is growing and has a large congregation. Lexington Presby- 
tery, which covers six counties about Staunton, Va., has 
fifty-three country churches. During the last ten years these 
have made an increase in membership of 36 per cent. At the 
same time this has been a period of unprecedented movement 
of people to the city, and these congregations have sent a 
large number of members to urban centers. 


It has been the policy of the Committee on Vacancy and 
Supply of this Presbytery, which operates as a sub-com- 
mittee of the Home Mission Committee, to see that every 
country field is supplied by a resident pastor. The su- 
perintendent of Home Missions does the correspondence 


THe New Catt 23 


and exercises great care to secure only competent men who 
are well recommended. 


Dr. Rolvix Harlan, Professor of Social Science of Rich- 
mond University, in his book, “A New Day for the Country 
Church,” says: 


“We are bound to confess that in many local situations in 
the country the church is belated, is badly led, is giving oppor- 
tunity for the expression of certain lower elements of human 
nature; but we at once affirm that this need not be so, and, 
please God, we are in the process of finding ways by which 
the country church may grip the inner, deeper, profounder 
phases of human nature, and through its worship, led by a 
godly minister and helpers, bind the hearts of the people back 
‘to God.” 


If the true epitaph of many a dead country church were 
written, it would be “Died of a preacher.” I am thinking of 
two typical churches of this kind. One of them has had its 
doors closed for fifteen years. Wisely manned, it should be 
one of the strong country churches of the South. Its decline 
came when it employed a pastor of a near-by city church as 
a supply. He was a good man and a good preacher. He gave 
his energies to the city church. He was not able to do any- 
thing for the country church except preach for them occa- 
sionally. The church had preaching, but no pastoral work 
and no congregational life. After several years the city 
preacher said to the few people who were left, “We have 
good roads. Why not just move your membership into my 
church in the city?’ Most of them complied, for he had won 
their love and confidence. The church died, and its epitaph 
is “Died of a preacher.” 


There is another church located in a rich agricultural sec- 
tion. It had back of it a glorious history. From it has gone 
a number of leaders — financiers, statesmen, educators, 


24 Tae N Bw AGA 


preachers. For many years it had a good man as a minister, 
but he lacked the essential qualifications of a country 
preacher. He was city born and city reared. He did not 
understand the country people. The church continued to 
decline and grow weaker until it was near death’s door. Its 
epitaph should be “Died of a preacher.” 


The city churches would be very much stronger today if 
they had helped these country churches to have the right 
kind of resident pastors. 


QUALIFICATIONS 


This raises the question ‘““What are some of the qualifica- 
tions of a successful country preacher ?” 


1. He SuHoutp BE a Country MAN 


If a man is born in a city and reared without any first 
hand experience on the farm, he should, as a rule, do his 
work in the town or city. There are exceptions where men 
have an innate love of nature and have made a careful study 
of farm conditions in some agricultural college who will 
make a success in the country, but these exceptions are rare. 
A country man may go to the city and succeed, but it is rare 
that a city man succeeds in anything in the country. Some 
city men make money on farms, but usually it is when they 
have capital enough to employ practical, farm-raised men to 
do the work for them. Someone has said, “The difference 
between an agriculturist and a farmer is that the agrciulturist 
makes his money in the city and spends it in the country and 
the farmer makes his money in the country and spends it in 
the city.’ The minister to meet country needs must be able 
to establish a point of contact with his people. He must see 
things from their point of view. He must identify his life 


Le NE we GALL 25 


with the life of his people and have a sympathetic under- 
standing in the solution of their problems. 


Country people will not follow a leader whom they consider 
ignorant and impractical. It is human nature to think every- 
one is ignorant who does not know what we know. If 
country people find that their minister is not familiar with 
the things which are patent to every country bred man, they 
will lose confidence in his knowledge concerning other mat- 
ters. A country reared man is accustomed to discourage- 
ments. He has learned by experience how to meet situations 
and to conquer obstacles. 


2. He Must Be ADAPTABLE 


He must be able to adjust himself to rural conditions. 
Country people live very economically. They are constantly 
schooling themselves to do without the things which the 
average city man feels are necessities. A farmer who was 
able to buy an adjoining farm and at the same time rear a 
large family of children was asked, “How did you ever 
manage it?” He answered, “By doing without the things 
we were obleeged to have.” 


A spendthrift preacher cannot win the esteem or con- 
fidence of a rural congregation. A country preacher’s life 
is not an easy one. He will have to deny himself for the 
Master’s sake. His parishioners do not spend much money. 
They do not have much to spend. Thrift with them becomes 
a habit. The country preacher may have to milk his cow, 
cut his wood, work his garden, repair his car. He may learn 
by necessity that an axe is as much of a muscle-builder as 
a golf stick and that a hoe gives as much pleasure as a tennis 
racket. The country preacher will likely have neither ser- 
vants nor modern conveniences in his home. Servants in 
the country are largely a thing of the past, but, if he is a 


26 Tue New Catri 


wise man, he may induce his people to adopt more convenient 
and better standards of living for themselves, and people 
in the country always want their preacher and his family 
to share with them in the best that they have. Things that 
are lacking in the standards of living in the country—lack 
of schools, lack of roads, lack of conveniences in the home— 
are some of the factors that constitute the challenge to the 
minister who is wise enough to be a leader. 


3. Hr SHoutp Be A WELL-EDUCATED MAn 


The country church requires an Educated ministry. 
There is a conception that anyone will do for the country. 
When I was pastor of a church in the city of Louisville, Ky., 
the Court appointed me a probation officer and there were 
assigned to me about a dozen boys from the Cabbage Patch, 
made famous by Alice Hegan Rice. These boys had been 
arrested for various charges and released on probation. It 
was my duty to have them report to me every Saturday. 
They brought their reports from the schools showing their 
attendance and their grades. I used to take them into the 
house and have a little talk with them. I gave them some 
books to read. One day I met the mother of one of the boys 
on the street. I said, “How is Henry getting on?” 

She said, “Oh, Henry is doing fine. He has been reading 
those books that you loaned to him. He says he is going to 
be a preacher.” 

I answered, “I am perfectly delighted.” 

She replied, “Yes, I think he might as well be a preacher. 
I don’t think he will ever be fit for anything else.” 

Her conception of the ministry is like that which some 
people have of the work of the country preacher. They 
have an idea that if he is not fit for a foreign missionary, 
nor a teacher, nor an evangelist, nor a city pastor, his place 


Tue New Cay oh 


is in the country. We must get rid of the notion that any 
“stick” is good enough for the country church. 


It is my opinion that the fields which are most potential 
in the building of the Kingdom of God are out in the coun- 
try. They are potent because all other forms of service are 
dependent upon them. Here are born and reared the men 
who will be the leaders in the world of tomorrow. We need 
our most gifted, our most consecrated ministers in these 
country fields. 


There may have been a time when men without education 
could serve acceptably in the country but that time is passing. 
We are living in the midst of a great rural awakening. Auto- 
mobiles, trucks, telephones, radios, electrical developments, 
good roads, rural free deliveries, parcel post, agricultural 
magazines, county agents, home demonstration agents, farm 
organizations, co-operative associations, Smith - Hughes 
schools, agricultural colleges, extension service, nearly all 
of which belong to our generation, constitute some of the 
reasons for the renaissance. The most potent factor has not 
been mentioned, and that is the grade and high schools 
which we find all over America with modern buildings and 
up-to-date equipment, with teachers who are required to con- 
form to high educational standards. We wish to call attention 
especially to the large number of consolidated rural high 
schools. 


Today is not yesterday. The Southern Railroad calls at- 
tention to the following interesting facts: one hundred and 
twenty-five millions of dollars have been spent for the pur- 
pose of erecting public school buildings during the last 
twelve years in the territory served by that road. In 1900 
Southern people paid 90c per person for education and in 
1922 $5.85 per person. In 1900 only 64.8% of the children 
in the South attended school while the average for the nation 


28 Tue New Catyu 


was 72.4%. In 1922 the average attendance in the South 
was 81.4% while that of the nation was 81.2%. An unedu- 
cated, non-resident or inefficient ministry cannot qualify for 
the needs of this new day. The educational program in the 
rural South is rapidly becoming the twentieth century electri- 
fication type, while the program of many of our churches is 
that of the nineteenth century oil lamp. 

The most tremendous Home Mission appeal that hae ever 
come in the history of the nation comes now to the denomina- 
tion which has an educated and cultured ministry, to lift the 
light of truth to guide the feet of the young men and women 
of the rural High Schools into the paths of righteousness. 


But this educational movement in the rural sections, es- 
pecially in the South, constitutes a grave danger. In the past 
a great appeal has come to the Church because of the ignor- 
ance of the people. In many of our rural districts the Church 
has been spending money in doing purely educational work. | 
We all recognize the necessity of this. We recognize that 
if education is to be really helpful, it is necessary for it to 
be Christian. “Sanctified education is the greatest blessing, 
unsanctified education the greatest curse.” 

Much education of the higher type which we find today 
constitutes a danger. Learning without religion is inclined 
to make skeptics of men. The State is not in a position to 
give Christian training. The Church is challenged as never 
before to give her youth in the country districts that which 
the State cannot by the very nature of the case properly 
provide. An ignorant ministry whose stock in trade is abuse 
of the schools may serve to drive young people away from 
the Church and, although they may be men with sincere in- 
tentions, they may do far more harm than good. The day 
demands cultured, well-educated ministers. All far-seeing 
leaders of all denominations are recognizing the necessity 


THe New Cay 29 


of a ministry adequate to meet the needs of this new day. 
Dr. Jeff D. Ray in his book, “The Country Preacher,” has 
the following to say: 


“Not long since an intelligent country layman said to me: 
‘I do not know what our church is going to do for a preacher.’ 
When I reminded him of the fact that there were twenty 
preachers in the county, many of them without work, and 
asked why his church did not call one of them, he said, ‘It 
is true that we have these twenty preachers. They are all 
good men, without a stain on their character or an interroga- 
tion point after their fidelity. Many of them would be glad 
to be our pastor, but we have a nine months’ tenth grade 
public school where most of our children graduate, and many 
of them are sent off to college. Now the fact is that many 
of our young people are better educated than any of those 
preachers, and whether it ought to be so or not, it is true that 
a preacher will have a hard time leading our young people 
if they regard him as inferior in the matter of education.’ 
That is not the high-brow criticism of a cold-blooded theo- 
logical professor but the deliberate conclusion of a country 
layman who was seeing the thing tried every year. Every 
consolidated school with its ten grades and nine months’ 
session imperiously demands a better equipped ministry for 
our country churches. Nobody realizes this fact more than 
those same poorly equipped men among our country preach- 
ers who are doing their best to hold the situation in spite of 
the handicap under which they labor, and of which they are 
more conscious than anybody else. We must get away from 
the heresy that town churches need educated preachers and 
country churches do not. Other things being equal, a country 
church will yield to the touch of a trained preacher quicker 
and more fruitful response than a town church. Every mark 
of real refinement and culture the preacher manifests will be 
appreciated as keenly in the country as in the town.” 


4. He SHoutp Be A Man oF VISION 


The country preacher should be a man of Vision and have 
the quality of inspiring vision in others. A task without a 


30 Tue New Cay 


vision is drudgery. A minister to be happy at his task and 
successful in its accomplishment must be able to see the pos- 
sibilities and potentialities of the people among whom he 
ministers. One man looks at a piece of marble and sees only 
an irregular mass of stone. Another looks at the same piece 
of marble and sees the statue of an angel. The minister 
who can look into the faces of his congregation of country 
youth and see in them great preachers, missionaries, teachers, 
leaders in every sphere of the world’s activity has a heart for 
his task and will have joy in the accomplishment of it. 


It takes a man of vision to be able to discover and train 
leadership. Country churches lack leadership. It is not be- 
cause they of the country lack potentiality, for the same 
people moving to the city become the leaders there. Some- 
how people in the country are backward and they must be 
discovered and with much patience and perseverance be 
trained in the practice of doing things. 

The country preacher must be a man of vision, but not a_ 
dreamer. He must be practical. He must be a man of vision, 
but not visionary. That minister is most efficient who is able 
to best develop efficiency in his people. The country preacher, 
therefore, should have some ability as a teacher and should 
have that quality of enthusiasm which is contagious. 


5. He SHoutp Be INDUSTRIOUS 


The country is no place for a lazy preacher. He will not 
have the stimulus of keen competition which he would have. 
in the city. One of his severest temptations will be to let 
things slide and move along in an easy slip-shod manner. A 
Foreign Missionary Board will not send out a man who has 
the reputation of being lazy. City or town churches will not 
tolerate a man of this type. The country people are long- 
suffering. They learn to love their preachers and they over- 


Tue New Catt 31 


look their faults without complaint, but, if a minister is to 
do real work in a country church, he must be a well-read man. 
Every minister should read at least one good book every week 
and write an article for some paper or magazine at least once 
every month. He may not have his article accepted for 
publication, but he should write anyway. The tendency for 
a man out in the country is to grow stale. Every year he 
should take a course of study either at a Summer Bible Con- 
ference or Theological Seminary. He does not have the 
intellectual contacts of the man in the town or city. The 
country pastorate is not a lazy man’s job. His pastoral work 
requires more energy than that of the man in town. 


6. He Must BE A VOLUNTEER 


The successful country preacher is one who is a Volunteer 
and not a conscript. He must give himself definitely to this 
task in God’s open among his scattered people as others do 
to the foreign mission field. He must be willing to bury 
himself. He must believe that it is better to please God than 
to get the plaudits of men. He must learn that it is a bigger 
business to mold character than to become distinguished in 
the profession of preaching. We are persuaded that a man 
who is doing a real task in the country can not be buried. 
The only way to redeem the country ministry from its 
ignominy is to do the work in such a big way that the results 
will convince the Church and the world that it is a task 
worthy of recognition. 


John Frederic Oberlin, a Ph. D. from Strasburg Univer- 
sity, gave his life to the backwoods people in the Vosges 
Mountains in Northern France. A man of unusual talents, 
very highly educated, he spent his lifelong ministry in this 
rigorous climate where the people were ignorant, poor and 
“ironheaded.” Oberlin today is known throughout the world 


32 THe New CAtLyt 


as “The Patron Saint of the Country Church.” He received 
the Legion of Honor at the hands of Louis XVIII for ser- 
vices which he rendered during his fifty-three years’ pas- 
torate. It was an expression of appreciation for the work 
of transformation which he wrought upon the community 
where he labored. He also received recognition from the 
Emperor Alexander of Russia. When in 1819 an officer 
bore a message from pastor Oberlin to the Emperor, the 
Emperor embraced him saying, “This is for Father Oberlin.” 
When he was called to a city church with a generous salary 
his reply was, “The best work for me is where I can do the 
most good with the least recompense.”’ 


Dr. Victor Masters in his little book, “The Country Church 
in the South,” says: 


“Buried in the country: An Oberlin spent a life among 
the adamantine denseness of the backwoods in the mountains 
of northern France, lifted up a whole population, and a> 
hundred years later the whole world acclaimed him. 


“Richard Baxter, poor in health, spent most of his life at 
Kidderminster, a poor country parish, but neither he nor the 
public seemed to think that he was buried. The author of 
devotional books, second in fame only to those of that other 
country man, John Bunyan, Baxter’s name is still a house- 
hold word and Kidderminster a shrine which draws countless 
pilgrims. Charles Kingsley spent his life as pastor at Evers- 
ley, an uninteresting English rural village, but did not long 
remain buried. Men and women from all over the world 
made their way to that out-of-the-way sanctuary to hear 
Charles Kingsley preach. Nor did he heed the calls to 
larger places, which followed close on the heels of great 
repute. The elder P. H. Mell was forty years pastor of two 
country churches in Georgia, meantime refusing calls to half 
the larger city churches in the South. If he was ‘buried’ 
Southern Baptists showed persistent obtuseness in recogniz- 
ing it, for they elected him president of the Southern Baptist 
Convention fifteen times. 


Tue New Cau 33 


“Bishop Warren A. Candler, of Atlanta, was once presid- 
ing over a Methodist Conference in a southern state. He 
was reading the appointments for preachers for the ensuing 
year. The great body of country churches came first. He 
was interrupted presently by a certain well-groomed banker 
with his sparse hair parted in the middle, who arose to ask 
the Bishop if he had provided in his appointments a preacher 
for the big First Church of which the banker was a member, 
in the largest city in the state. ‘Brother,’ replied the Bishop, 
‘how many preachers has your church produced since you 
have known it?’ ‘Well, I have been in it twenty-five years; 
I do not remember any,’ replied the banker, who found the 
questioning Bishop more discomposing than a whole board of 
directors. ‘Brother,’ continued the Bishop, ‘I am appointing 
good preachers to these country churches because we must 
depend upon them to produce preachers for such churches as 
yours. I will appoint one for you after we get through with 
these.’ 


“The whole attitude of our Christian bodies towards coun- 
try churches and pastors needs to be shaken up and changed, 
for as it now stands this situation is a reproach and a shame. 
A determined effort to remove this reproach is the least that 
these bodies can afford, if they really expect to convince the 
public that they realize what great issues depend upon main- 
taining a full and satisfying rural life in the South.” 


The country preacher today, who has a real consecration 
to his task and who turns a deaf ear to the call from city 
pulpits, will preach to great congregations, not only to the 
people who will come from the countryside but those who will 
come on good roads from nearby towns and cities. People 
love to worship in a church among the trees out in the open, 
away from the odors, the noise and the other distractions of 
the city. There is something about a temple in God’s great 
out-of-doors that makes one more reverent than in the cost- 
liest cathedral erected by the hand of man. Our age is calling 
for Oberlins and Kingsleys to preserve, the country churches 
and to save the generation of today and, through it, that 


34 Tue New CaAty 


of tomorrow. Dr. J. W. Skinner, Moderator of the General 
Assembly of the Southern Presbyterian Church for 1926-’27, 
gave his life to Home Missions in Western Texas. He is a 
concrete example of the fact that you can not bury a man 
who does his task in a big way. 


QUESTIONS 


1. What is the debt due the country minister of the past? 


2. Why does the church in this new day demand a ministry of high 
order ? 

3. What are some of the essential qualifications for an efficient 
country preacher? 


4. What steps must the church take to secure an adequate country 
ministry ? 


CHARTER TIT 
A PERSONAL PROGRAM 


HE country preacher must make a program for him- 
4 Paks While he may not always be able to follow it, he 
should, in so far as possible, carry it out conscientiously. It 
should be grouped around the various spheres of his develop- 
ment—physical, intellectual, social and spiritual. 


The only way for the country preacher to overcome the 
temptation of laziness is to become a severe taskmaster of 
himself. A very good division of the twenty-fours of the 
day is—eight hours for sleep, eight hours for recreation and 
eight hours for work. 


DES LEBP 


Dr. Benjamin M. Palmer, of New Orleans, said that he 
found eight hours of sleep a necessity. There may be some 
men who do not need that much, for some sleep more in a 
short time than others in a long period. The minister who 
realizes the true significance of his calling is under great 
mental and nervous strain. It is absolutely necessary that he 
sleep. Work will never kill any man as long as he gets eight 
hours sleep each night. 


Shakespeare was a prodigious worker. He knew well how 
sleep prepared him for the great task of which his brain was 
capable. He says: 


“Sleep, that knits up the ravell’d sleeve of care, 
The death of each day’s life, sore labour’s bath, 
Balm of hurt minds, great nature’s second course, 
Chief nourisher in life’s feast!” 


36 Tue New CaLy 


The minister’s hours for sleep should be as sacred as those 
for work. His efficiency in the latter will depend upon how 
he spends the former. | 

The minister’s usefulness will depend largerly upon having 
a clear brain. He should never turn night into day. The 
country preacher should retire early. “Early to bed and 
early, to rise make a man healthy, and wealthy, and wise.” 
It may not make him wealthy, but it will contribute to the 
other two which are important factors to his usefulness. 
Early retiring will provide “daylight savings” and he will find 
the early hours of the new day will prove golden for study. 


Il, RECREATION 


Every minister should have an avocation. That of the 
country preacher should be something of which his congrega- 
tion approves. It should be useful, possibly along the line of 
the vocation of his people. This will serve to form a point . 
of contact as he engages in conversation with his parishioners. 
If his avocation is poultry, for example, it will give him a 
personal interest in the poultry industry in which his people 
are engaged. If it is gardening, it will help him to under- 
stand the problems of his farmer friends. 

Many men are lost in the pitfall of indolence but, if the 
minister, who takes his calling seriously and realizes that his 
is the great business of being an ambassador of the Lord 
Jesus Christ, undertakes to work continuously without having 
something toward which to turn his mind for a change, he 
will probably break down in health. My father used to say, 
“Work when you work and when you play, play.” In order 
to do the most efficient work every man must have something 
at which he can play. 

The country preacher should be very careful not to allow 
his avocation to become his vocation. He should never engage 


DA RAN ew GALL in Vt 


in it for personal profit. He should never try to make money 
out of it by trading with his people. It may prove to be 
remunerative. It may help to keep the wolf from the door, 
but that should be only an incidental and secondary aim. 

A part of the time set apart for recreation should be de- 
voted to general reading such as newspapers, magazines, 
fiction and material along the line of his avocation. Every 
country preacher should read regularly one or more good 
farm journals, preferably those subscribed to by his people. 

Devotions should occupy a good portion of the recreational 
period. Luther said when he had a very busy day he always 
spent at least three hours in prayer. The country minister 
needs to meet with the Master regularly every day in prayer 
and devotional study of the Scriptures. 

The remainder of the time set apart for recreation should 
be spent with the family and with friends, in letter writing, 
in dressing, at meals, doing chores, making necessary repairs, 
at sports, etc. 


Ill. WORK 


Kight hours every day should be spent in honest work. A 
certain number should be given to real, systematic study, 
writing, sermon preparation, and in pastoral visiting. The 
country preacher ought not to work less than his town brother 
and should really put more time on the preparation of his 
sermons. He will not have as many to prepare, but he ought 
to give them a more thorough preparation. A famous theo- 
logical seminary professor once said, ““When you go to town 
put your best suit of clothes in your suitcase; when you go to 
the country put your best sermon in your saddle bags.”’ 
Country people will put up with poor preaching, but they will 
appreciate it if it is good and, considering the potentiality of 
the lives of the country preacher’s congregation, he should 


38 Tue New Catt 


never be satisfied with giving to them anything short of his 
very best. | 

Men who are engaged in the business of money making, or 
who are ambitious for worldly honors have the stimulus 
which drives them to their tasks. The minister of Christ, 
who realizes the importance of the work to which God has 
called him, should feel the urge is no less compelling. 


A very important part of the country minister’s work is 
his pastoral visiting. His time is too valuable to be frittered 
away in mere social chatter, but he should spend many hours 
and days visiting his people. 

Rev. A. H. Hamilton, D.D., was for thirty-eight years 
pastor of Mt. Carmel Church located half way between Lex- 
ington and Staunton, Va. He saw it grow from a feeble 
band to one of the largest churches in the open country in 
the United States. He was a very careful and painstaking 
pastor. He announced to his people that he would not accept . 
invitations to spend the day with them or to take meals as his 
time set aside for visiting would not admit of that. He did 
not wait for formal invitations but made himself as one of 
the family wherever he went. He very frequently ate with 
his people, sharing what they had prepared for themselves. 
He did not spend very much time in any one home but he 
made the little time he spent there count. He was a persistent 
personal worker. During his long ministry he never had in 
his church a professional evangelist, yet constantly people 
were coming into his church on profession of faith. He went 
from house to house and from field to field speaking with his 
people about the affairs of the Kingdom, the problems of their 
religious lives, and their responsibilities to their families, 
their church and their God. His memory is sweetly embalmed 
in the hearts of his people and he, “Though he be dead, yet 
speaketh.” His influence will last in the lives, not only of 


Tue New CAtyt 39 


those to whom he ministered, but in the character of their 
children and their children’s children from generation to 
generation. 

Dr. Warren H. Wilson, Superintendent Department of 
Church and Country Life of the Board of Home Missions, 
Presbyterian Church, U. S. A., in a recent letter said, “It 
seems that pastoral work is becoming a lost art.” If a man 
is to know how to preach to his people, he must know their 
religious problems, and perplexities. He must know their 
religious needs and there is no other way to find out except 
by personal contact as he meets them on the road, in the field, 
and in the home. 

‘The country preacher must set aside a definite part of his 
working hours for pastoral visitation. He should strive to 
give an equitable division of his time to the different phases 
of his work. 

In our studies together in the Theological Seminaries, I 
have asked for discussion of the following question: ‘“Con- 
struct in your own way a workable program for the country 
preacher.” Here is a sample which I commend for con- 
sideration. 


Pe STUDY 


a. Read equivalent of one book per week; one of these a 
good biography every two months. 

b. Read the Bible through at least twice a year, studying 
certain books each year carefully and exhaustively 
with commentaries. 

c. Through papers keep abreast of church and secular 
news. 

d. Write out two sermons a week and carefully prepare 
other talks. 

e. Spend at least four hours per day in the study and 
study. 


40 Tue New Cattu 


2. CoMMUNITY RELATIONS: 


a. Win confidence and co-operation of every pastor of 
whatsoever denomination in the community. 


b. Cultivate and command the respect of the editor of 
county paper. 

c. Know the schools and win the confidence of teachers 
and pupils. 

d. Know the objectives and methods of all civic organiza- 
tions. If there are none, take the lead toward the 
ones most needed. 


e. Help to create a community solidarity, spirit and soul. 


3. RECREATION 
a. Take some every day—not too much from study. 


b. Work in garden, or do a bit of farming, or work at the 
wood pile. 


c. Hunt and fish with parishioners, but be sure conduct 
on such occasions will never lower their respect. 


d. Find most of the recreation in an avocation—chickens, 
live stock, flowers, or trucking on a small scale. 


4. DEVOTION 


Spend at least one hour a day in devotions, mostly in 
private. 


A minister who has been a successful country preacher 
for nineteen years writes, June 15, 1926, “My records show 
thirty-two books read to date this year. 1 mentione this to 
show that a country preacher can do some reading and study. 
My program is a broad one. 


Mornin, 6 To 12:30—Study, including devotional hour. 


AFTERNOON, 2-5—Visiting except on Mondays and Satur- 
days. Monday afternoon is given largely to corres- 
pondence and working in garden and among flowers. 
Saturday afternoon is the rest period. A country 
preacher should start his sermon Monday morning. 
He never knows what a day may bring forth. 


THe New Catyu 41 


Nicut, 7-11—Reading. No sermon work. Perhaps an 
evening visit. I have found the evening visit during 
the hot summer months most satisfactory. The family 
will be found at home ready to enjoy a visit in the 
cool of the day. 


I spend as a usual thing my Saturday nights reading sev- 
eral farm journals. This is the best way for the country 
preacher to understand the problems of the country, to under- 
stand them when the farmer is thinking of them. The weekly 
reading of some good Farm Weekly keeps him up to the 
minute in farm thought. 


“There are some good, sound Scripture doctines that should 
engage the thought of the country preacher : 


The Stewardship of the Land. 

The Farmer’s Relation and Duty to His Animals. 
The Farmer’s Mission to Feed a Hungry World. 
The Value of the Farm Home. 

Bible Doctrine of Land Distribution. 


The Bible is full of instruction on these and many points, 
for God placed a people in a land and gave them instruction 
how to distribute and use it. The farmer needs to know the 
principles of his stewardship.” 


Being a country preacher is great business. Others are 
called to scatter the seed on the hard ground, the stony 
ground, the thorny ground, but the country preacher is to 
scatter it on good soil where the largest fold is returned. 
However faithless others may be in the performance of their 
tasks, the country preacher must be a worker that “needeth 
not to be ashamed.” 

‘ The country preacher should never look upon his work as 
a task. He is his own master and is not driven by physical 
necessity, but the moral obligation becomes all the greater for 


42 THE New CAL 


that reason. Jesus was a tireless worker. Paul followed in 
His steps. The country preacher can find no finer inspira- 
tion than to keep his eyes constantly upon the example of the 
busy ministry of Jesus and of Paul. 


QUESTIONS 


1. What special reasons make it well for the country preacher to 
have a personal program? 


2. What should be the country preacher’s program for sleep, recrea- 
tion and work? 


3. Why should the country preacher read the Agricultural Journals? 
4. Construct in your own way a program for a country preacher. 


CHABTERVLV 


THE COUNTRY MAN 


HE habits of life of country people are different from 
BE tics: who dwell in the city. The pursuits and relation- 
ships of country men develop in them certain pronounced 
characteristics and, unless the minister has a sympathetic 
understanding of these and can identify himself wlth the 
people of his congregation, he will be greatly handicapped in 
his services. 


- Of course, both the city and country people have many 
things in common. They are all sinners and need the gospel 
of salvation. The teachings of the Scriptures are applicable 
to one as to the other, yet the Bible is largely couched in rural 
language and it is well for the preacher, whether he gives his 
life to the country or city, to understand country life. The 
book of nature rightly understood is an interpreter of the 
Book of Books. The Bible is expressed in rural imagery and 
can be comprehended, and its message visualized best by one 
who knows the country and has some first hand knowledge 
of nature. It is necessary also for the country preacher to 
know the psychology of the farmer. 


1. THe Country MAN Is INDIVIDUALISTIC 


City folks are accustomed to work together in factory, 
store, shop, office where they join as a unit. Business men 
as partners in co-operative enterprises, joint stock companies, 
corporations, etc., work in unison one with another. 


The country man’s home is isolated. His pursuits are apart 
from his fellowmen. While there is a neighborliness, yet 


44 THE New CALL 


there is a development of individualism in the country that 
we do not find in the city. The country man works in his 
field alone. He does things by himself. He acts on his own 
initiative without reference to the behaviour of others. 


This individualism at once constitutes his strength and his 
weakness. It makes him more resourceful. It develops in 
him self-reliance and initiative, characteristics which consti- 
tute essentials of leadership. It makes him a good operator, 
but a poor co-operator. 


All who have had to deal with the problems of organizing 
the farmers have found that this individualism is so pro- 
nounced in country men that it is difficult to get them to 
stand together. While it is rather easy to organize farmers, 
it is very hard to get them for any length of time to maintain 
their societies. It is a problem to get them to buy together 
and sell together. It seems almost impossible for them to 
maintain a program of co-operation. 


This individualism of the country man constitutes one of 
the serious problems of the country preacher. Each one is 
inclined to do what seems good in his own eyes and, without 
a knowledge of this characteristic and an understanding of 
how to capitalize its strength and overcome its weakness, the 
minister who deals with the people in God’s open will become 
discouraged and disheartened. The country preacher who 
wishes to succeed must recognize the individualistic tenden- 
cies of his people. 

The new generation of farmers, however, are an improve- 
ment over their fathers in this particular. The following 
report signed by two members of New Providence congrega- 
tion and the agricultural agent of Rockbridge County, Va., 
illustrates what 1 mean. We give their full report as a 
concrete example of what intelligent farmers of high Chris- 
tian character can do. | 


THe New CALL 45 


WEAN oe ROC re R TDG rh wilViio S LOCK 
MARKETING ASSOCIATION DOING? 


“Believing that many Rockbridge farmers are interested in 
this question and that it would be to the advantage of all 
farmers who have livestock to sell to know more about it, 
the board of directors of the association, at a recent meeting, 
decided to send occasionally a general letter of information 
to all leading farmers in the county. Therefore we respect- 
fully ask your careful consideration of the facts given below: 

“1. The Rockbridge Co-operative Livestock Marketing 
Association has about 300 members, including practically all 
of the larger livestock producers in the county as well as all 
of the larger buyers and shippers. 

“2. Net saving to farmers and other members, $6,697.04 
—For the year ending December 1, 1925, the association sold 
$109,595.93 worth of livestock. The net amount paid to 
members of the association for this livestock amounted to 
$6,697.04 more than prices offered by buyers on the day 
shipments were made. Did you get your share of this saving, 
or did you sell your stock to a buyer and let him have your 
share of it? A few shipments, of course, net the members 
a little less than prices offered by buyers on the day of ship- 
ment, but the above amount is the net balance after these 
losses and all expenses are deducted. 

“3. Number of Livestock Sold—In 1925 the association 
shipped and sold 1,727 calves, 4,694 lambs and sheep, 489 
cattle and 579 hogs. The largest net saving was made on 
lambs and calves. 

“4. Since December 1, 1925, the association has marketed 
517 veal calves, 96 sheep and lambs, 199 cattle and 274 hogs, 
on which a net saving of $1,322.48 was made. One car 
netted the members $198.50 more than the buyers’ prices. 
No car shipped so far this year has netted a loss, the lowest 
saving per car being $1.21. 

“5. The net saving given above amounts to 7 per cent of 
the net proceeds. Men who sold in this way waited one or 
two weeks longer for their money. Assuming that they all 
waited an average of two weeks, they would have made 


46 Cae NEWCO ALL 


slightly over 40 per cent on their money, figured on a yearly — 
basis. Is this good business? 


“All that you need to do to become a member, if you are 
not already one, is to make a shipment of livestock consigned 
through the association manager, and your membership fee 
will be deducted from the first shipment. If you are a mem- 
ber of the Farmer’s Union, you will not be charged a mem- 
ber’s fee in the marketing association. If you are not a 
member of the Union and want to become one, your member- 
ship fee will be $3.00. 


“This association belongs to its members, and the board of 
directors will welcome criticisms, suggestions for improve- 
ment, or any grievances at any time. If you are not already 
a member, we respectfully request that you become one with 
your first shipment of lambs this season. Don’t get dis- 
couraged in case you happen to strike a shipment on which 
buyers ‘get stuck.’ Just remember that they must make it 
up on the next shipments.” 

W. G. Lewis, 


T. S. REEs, 
Joun K. Patterson. 
Committee on Publicity. 


Working together in the church will help men to work 
together in their business. Working together in their busi- 
ness will help them to co-operate in the church. Mr. J. H. 
Meeks, head of the Bureau of Markets in the State of Vir- 
ginia, calls attention to the fact that if farmers are to be able 
to work together in co-operative marketing, it is very neces- 
sary that they be men of the right kind of character. He 
calls attention to the fact that the Church is necessary to 
make them the right kind of men. The secret of success in 
marketing is to have the products of the farm standardized, 
of the proper quality to meet the required specifications and 
always to be as represented. The Church makes Christian 
men and only Christian men who trust each other and deal 
justly one with another, and with those who become their 


Tue New Cau 47 


patrons in buying their products can successfully work to- 
gether in co-operative marketing. Co-operative marketing 
improves the quality of the article offered and also improves 
the character of the men engaged in it. 


2. Tuer Country MAn Is DELIBERATE 


He does not do things ina hurry. His life is one of patient 
waiting. He waits for the processes of the seasons. He 
waits for the ground to get in proper condition for plowing, 
for the preparation of the seed bed. He waits for the time 
for sowing. He waits for the season of cultivation. He 
waits for the harvest. He waits for the drying days to 
prepare the crop for the ingathering. He waits for the 
proper time to market. All the processes of his life tend to 
make him deliberate in action. His experience is calculated 
to give him a spirit of patience. The minister who does not 
understand rural psychology and rural habits may become 
provoked because things do not move quickly in the country. 


3. THe Country Man Is CoNSERVATIVE 


He is slow to adopt new methods and he is wary about 
trying out novel schemes. The country man is usually 
thought to be gullible. He has often been the victim of 
shrewd schemers. He has often been deceived and cheated 
by unprincipled men who have practiced upon him the arts 
of salesmanship as they have dealt with him alone in the 
field. All of this has made him cautious about adopting 
things that are suggested. 

This, however, may be said—that when country people are 
once committed to that which they have been convinced is an 
enterprise worth while, they can be counted upon to carry it 
through, though it may be with a good deal of deliberation. 

The country preacher, who would get his people to adopt 
new ideas and advanced methods, must prove to them that 


48 THe New Cay 


his plan is practical as well as pious. He must be a leader 
but he must not go too far ahead. His people must know 
that his ideas are sound before they will adopt them as their 
own. 


4. Country PEopLE ARE ECONOMICAL 


They have a comfortable living but they do not handle 
much money. They are independent but necessarily have to 
practise economy and are frequently accused of being stingy 
and close-fisted. Dwellers in the city get their salaries, which 
constitute a very much larger return than that which is 
received by the average country man and are free spenders. 
The country man, while he may have considerable capital in- 
vested in his home, his land and his crops, is usually in debt. 
His money comes in lump sums and is consumed in the 
liquidation of accumulated indebtedness. Country people are 
engaged in pursuits which do not yield an equitable monetary 
return. Their money comes to them at uncertain intervals. | 
They are victims of uncertain weather conditions. They are 
constantly running the gauntlet of enemies of every kind 
which in the form of diseases and pests attack their crops, 
their orchards, their vineyards, their gardens, their flocks 
and their herds. 

The country man, therefore, as compared with the dweller 
in the city seems very much less liberal in his gifts. It is 
more difficult for him to calculate what his tithe is. H&s 
habits of economy, unless he practices stewardship, makes 
him seem niggardly in contributing to the work of the Lord. 


5. Tue Country Man Is TuHrirty 


Of course, it is true that some of the dwellers in the coun- 
try are shiftless, but as a rule stern necessity has inculcated 
thrift. Especially is this true of the country women. Eggs, 
poultry, butter, etc., frequently pay the store bill. The habit 


Tue NEw CALL 49 


of thrift formed on the farm is one of the explanations of 
the fact that a large proportion of men of wealth in America 
were born in the country. 

If this spirit of thrift is capitalized for the Church, it may 
prove a mighty factor in the work of the Kingdom. If these 
potential millionaries are taught to tithe and are given the 
right conception of the relationship of their lives and of their 
possessions they may prove to be James B. Dukes, Colgates 
and Wanamakers. 


6. THe Country MAN Is VERSATILE 


The city man day after day is bound as a slave to some 
task. He becomes more or less a machine while the country 
man is varied in his pursuits. One day he is with his live- 
stock, the next he follows the plow, the next he may spend 
among the trees of his orchard, the next in the garden or 
vineyard. Usually the life of the urban man is one of mono- 
tonous drudgery, while there is endless variety for the man 
in the country and each day brings a new interest to him in 
pursuits on the farm. The city man learns to do one thing 
and do it well, but the country man learns to do many things 
in many different ways. One set of muscles, one group of 
brain cells of the city man are developed, while to the country 
man every muscle in his body and every brain cell is called 
upon to function. The city man becomes a slave, while the 
country man becomes the master of his vocation. 

Dr. Alfred Leyburn, of Lexington, Va., in speaking of the 
Agricultural Fair to be held at Brownsburg, Va., in 1834, had 
the following to say: 


“And what, think ye, can or ought to afford more un- 
alloyed enjoyment than scenes of this kind in which are 
commingled the honest cultivators of the soil, whose hearts 
are ‘kindled with a fire from off the same altar,’ and whose 
objects, hopes and fears are for the most part the same, 


50 THe NEw Catt 


engaged in one common pursuit. ‘Here’s my heart and here’s 
my hand’ is a feeling reciprocated by each whilst the heart 
responds to the expression of Burns, ‘that the life of the 
farmer, sowing his grain in hope and reaping in gladness— 
fattening his herds, shearing his flocks, rejoicing at fairs and 
begetting sons and daughters, until he be the venerated, grey 
headed leader of a little tribe, is truly a heavenly one.’ 
“Aye, the life is pleasant, not merely negatively because 
of the absence of some of the troubles incident to other 
callings,—but positively so because of the presence of objects 
and employments in themselves calculated to inspire feelings 
and awaken sentiments of an exalted character leading the 
mind from nature up to nature’s God, who alone ordereth the 
seasons, and causes the uninterrupted succession of seed-time 
and harvest. Agriculture is not only pleasant, but it is honor- 
able—and would be still more so, were science made her 
hand-maid as she should be. It is honorable not only because 
of its intrinsic excellence, but also of its antiquity having 
been an object of care with kings and potentates—the high 
and the mighty of all ages, especially those of Greece and 
Rome, many of whom made it their study and delight. And: 
in what pleasing accents does Euthimines, a Grecian husband- 
man, express himself when saying to his neighbors at his 
own bountiful table; ‘When I walk in my fields, all things 
smile, and seem embellished with new ornaments. These 
harvests, trees and plants exist only for me, or rather for the 
necessitous whose wants I relieve. And he adds that 
‘emulation without rivalry is the bond of union between me 


bP 


and my neighbors’. 


7. THE Country MAN Is RETICENT 


He often pretends to be ignorant but he is usually saga- 
cious. Heisnot transparent and the man who thinks he under- 
stands country people when he has made a visit to the farm- 
house or even lived for a considerable time in the country 
is very much mistaken. The country man wears his company 
manners for the stranger, especially for the minister who 
does not understand him. His real self he draws in like the 


THe New Catu Sih 


tortoise does his head. To know and understand farmers 
you must be one of them. An elder in Tinkling Spring 
Church, near Staunton, Va., used to tell his pastor, Dr. G. B. 
Strickler, “You ought to plant a patch of corn every year. 
You will not know how to pray for rain unless you do.” 


In dealing with country people I have learned as much 
from my failures as from my successes. As I look back over 
the years many things occur to me that might have been 
done much more efficiently, but in so far as success has 
crowned my efforts experience coincides with the testimony 
of Dr. J. W. Jent, Dean of the Oklahoma Baptist University, 
who for ten years was a country preacher. 


“Only a man born and reared in the country has, or can 
have, the point of view of country people. He cannot under- 
stand them or see the country church through their eyes, 
hence, will find it exceedingly difficult to ‘tie on to them,’ or 
tie them on to him and his progressive program. Effective 
leadership roots itself right here. The pastor simply cannot 
really Jead unless the people follow, and they will not follow 
unless they know where they are going. They will not even 
start unless they believe in their leader as one of them, hence 
have confidence in him. 


“T know that whatever of success I have had in provoking 
the right response in country churches, in really influencing 
them, has been largely due to the fact that I know their point 
of view and appreciate to the full their conservatism. All 
I need do is remember my own point of view when I was a 
farmer lad, living in the open country. Having ‘been there,’ 
I know what they think and how they feel. I know that their 
hearts are in the right place, too, regardless of what they say 
and how they act. I believe there is a bond of sympathy 
there that no city ‘bred’ man in the world has or ever will 
have, no matter his training in rural life. There is a peculiar 
‘slant’ in the prejudice and bias of the rural mind that baffles 
the man who has never had it. Innate conservatism is just 


PAN Tue New Cay 


another name for ‘hard-headness,’ ‘mule,’ or ‘meanness,’ un- 

less one has been saturated with that same type of stubborn- 
II 

ness. 


QUESTIONS 


1. Why should the country preacher understand rural psychology? 


2. What are some of the pronounced characteristics of country 
people? 


3. How can the country preacher capitalize the country man’s char- 
acteristics for the Kingdom? 


*The Challenge of the Country Church, pp. 147-148. 


GCEAPODER? 'V. 


POPENTIPADTIY OR tCOUNTDRY 
COROT rat 


HILE country people are often the butt of ridicule 

and abuse because of some of their characteristics, 
they constitute the strength of the nation and the hope of the 
church. In thinking of the farmer we too frequently picture 
his weaknesses and overlook his elements of strength. Much 
that we see on the screen and in certain public print portrays 
the farmer at his worst instead of his best. Many of the 
-pleas for funds to help the work in the rural and mountain 
sections picture the country in terms of its slums and do not 
give the real facts which portray the potentiality of the coun- 
try people. 

A few years ago the writer was supplying a pulpit in the 
city of Baltimore. One evening during the week he attended 
a service in a neighboring church. A student was in charge. 
He had spent the summer in a section of West Virginia. He 
told an exceedingly interesting story of the poverty, vice, 
ignorance and backwardness of the people among whom he 
had labored. His listeners had a graphic picture. If they 
had never visited West Virginia, they would naturally have 
thought of the whole state in terms of the student’s portrayal. 
At the close of his discourse I said to him, “I was very 
much interested in your presentation. I am one of those 
‘wild and woolly’ West Virginians about whom you have been 
talking. I have no doubt that all you said is true but it is 
not the whole truth. It would not be fair for me to go back 
to West Virginia and describe Baltimore in the terms of its 
slums and say that that was Baltimore.” 


54 Van NE WAL 


The country has its shiftless, degraded constituency but 
it is not just to the country people to think of them in terms 
of their worst. It may create pity and a desire on the part 
of the people to help, but to me the highest call comes from 
the potentiality of the country people. To labor among them 
is a privilege. 


RURAL FASCINATION 


I used to be a city pastor, but for sixteen years have served 
a congregation in the open country. While I was in the 
city, the first warm days brought into my soul an urge some- 
thing like that which comes to the migratory birds, that in the 
springtime starts them on wing for their Northern nesting 
place. I love the country; I love its fields, bedecked with a 
robe of God’s wild flowers; its forests fragrant with the rich 
aroma of the herbage; its hills, musical with the chant of the 
waterfalls; its mountains, that force one to look upward, 
pointing heavenward like giant fingers; I love the wild life | 
of the lone places, and the domestic animals which animate 
the fields and transmute the grass into food and clothing for 
the people of the earth. I love the simple, sincere ways of 
country folk, where community of interest and unity of pur- 
pose undergird the solidarity of the home in which boys and 
girls grow to manhood and womanhood, apprentices of their 
parents. It is here they learn the lessons of economy, in- 
tegrity, independence, industry, initiative; it is here their 
bodies grow strong on an abundance of wholesome food, and 
ample exercise suited to the stages of their lives, and yet 
they learn the secrets of sacrificial living. It is not strange 
that from such environment and such homes, if the religion 
of Jesus has found its rightful place, there should be born 
and reared the leadership of the race. Statistics show that 
men of wealth, the captains of industry, statesmen, educa- 


Gee New Galt oh 


tional and religious leaders have been mostly country born 
and reared. 


NATURE’S EDUCATIONAL VALUE 


John T. Faris in his book, “Winning Their Way,” gives 
biographical sketches of forty-eight of the leading men of the 
modern world—eight inventors, three scientists, four ex- 
plorers, five industrial leaders, four men of the army and 
navy, six statesmen, nine authors and nine religious workers. 
Thirty-seven out of the forty-eight were country born and 
reared. The remaining eleven, born in the city, had a rural 
experience. For instance, William E. Gladstone’s boyhood 
was spent in Liverpool but he loved nature and took his 
exercise by walking in the country or swinging an axe. 
Robert Louis Stevenson, born in Edinburgh, was a country 
man by adoption and a past master in the description of 
nature scenes. Phillips Brooks was a Boston boy but an- 
nually with his brothers spent much time in the country 
homes of either aunt or grandmother. His biographer says: 


“What happy days they spent in these country homes, 
where they could romp and play to their hearts’ content! 
They made kites in the shed, and ran up and down the hill 
with them, their chief sorrow being the lack of sufficient 
string, for boys always want just a little more kite-string than 
they have.” 

Theodore Roosevelt was city born, but spent many years 
on the plains of the West. He was a country man by instinct 
and sympathies. He was never happier than when in the lone 
places on foot or in the saddle. His Country Life Commis- 
sion, appointed in 1908, did more to create revival in rural 
life than any other one thing. 


We are just beginning to realize the educational value of 
country life. It is evidenced in the growing popularity of 


56 Tue New Catt 


summer camps for boys and girls. It is also noted in the 
following news item of June 7th, 1926: 


“Educate the city boy to be a farmer. Such will be the 
policy of the national farm school conference which, at its 
closing session today, voted to campaign for $15,000,000 to 
give citified boys and girls a free, three-year training in the 
elements of scientific agriculture. 

“Dr. Abraham Schechter, of Austin, Tex., offered the con- 
ference 40,000 acres of land in Texas to be used for experi- 
mental purposes. Delegates from thirty-five governors and 
the mayors of fifty cities attended the conference, as well as 
educational and agricultural commissioners.”* 


OUR FUTURE POLITICAL LEADERS 


Thirty-five or forty years ago, President Calvin Coolidge 
was following the plow or tossing hay on a New England 
farm. This was the life not only of the first citizen of the 
land, but of many congressmen, senators and other men in 
whose hands rest the fortunes of the nation. If we can judge 
the future by the past, men of destiny in the world of tomor- 
row are now lads wearing overalls and doing the common 
chores on our American farms. Men who are determining 
the destiny of the nation for weal or woe are what they are, 
in character, through the influence of the ministers of religion 
who touched the life of their families during the plastic years 
of their childhood. 


The country boys and girls today are the leaders of thought 
and action in the progress of the world tomorrow. Some 
months ago a picture of President Coolidge and his Cabinet 
appeared in the Literary Digest, and the men in the picture 
were all reared on a farm in the open country except Charles 


*N. Y. World News Service. 


Tue New Catt Bf 


Hughes, Secretary of State at that time. Mr. Hughes is the 
son of a Baptist preacher. 


A few years ago Judge A. G. Dayton, who was on the 
Federal bench in West Virginia, told me an interesting tale 
of his days in Congress. One day when he found the janitor 
had installed some liquid soap in the members’ lavatory, he 
remarked, “This looks like home-made soap.” Another Con- 
gressman then said, “What do you know about home-made 
soap?’ He answered, “I know all about it; I made it when I 
was a boy.” This led to a comparison of notes, and of those 
present at the time, among them being the chairman of nearly 
every leading committee in Congress, it was found that they 
all except one came from the country and had made home- 
made soap. 

The country preachers of the present will determine the 
policies of the nation in the days to come. 


et WHENCE THE LARGE GIVERS? 


Most men of wealth were once country boys. Some years 
ago Dr. Russell H. Conwell, of Philadelphia, who is so well 
known for his lecture “Acres of Diamonds” made an inves- 
tigation of the parentage of 4,000 American millionaires. 
There were only twenty of this number who did not begin 
life as poor boys. Most of them were country lads who 
learned industry, economy, self-denial, self-reliance and in- 
itiative on the farm. 


The richest man in the world would probably never have 
been heard from if William Ford, his immigrant father, had 
settled in New York City and become an industrial worker. 
He went to Greenfield, Michigan, and settled among the 
farmers where he had a little smithy and cultivated his eighty 
acres. It was here Henry was born and grew up in the 


58 Tue New CaLt 


country in fellowship with the farmer lads. He was educated 
in the little one room school and, while he did not learn much 
history, he learned to be a true American. He acquired here 
the qualities, instilled into the country boy, which have made 
him the wizard of American industry. 


James B. Duke, who recently made the most munificent 
gift to education in the history of the South, was a country 
boy and got his experience as an apprentice under his father 
on the farm. The story is told that his father, after he 
became a rich man, stated, “The best days of my life were 
when I was able to market my entire crop with one mule and 
I bought five pounds of brown sugar, took it home, put it on 
the floor in the middle of the room, gave to each one of my 
four boys a spoon and said, ‘help yourselves’.” One of those 
boys gave what amounts to approximately $80,000,000 to the 
educational institutions and hospitals of North and South 
Carolina. 


Men in the world of tomorrow who will make large dona- 
tions, if they have a vision of the need and a right under- 
standing of their obligations to use their money for the glory 
of God, are today lads on the farm. 


It is the opportunity of the country preachers of today to 
capture these boys for Christ, and to train them in the prin- 
ciples of Christian living and the joys of stewardship. 


THE EDUCATIONAL WORLD 


What is true in the sphere of statesmanship and finance is 
true also in the educational world. The presidents of our big 
universities, professors in our colleges, editors of our big 
dailies, moulders of the thought of the leaders of tomorrow 
were mainly country boys. 


THe New CALL 59 


SOCIAL BETTERMENT 


The traveler on the Jefferson Highway, between Char- 
lottesville and Staunton, Va., willsee the country home of Lady 
Astor, one of the most constructive factors in the promotion 
of beneficial legislation in Great Britain today. She has ex- 
pressed her estimate of the value of the country church by 
providing a well-appointed building for the benefit of this 
rural community in which she has spent much of her time. 


RELIGIOUS LEADERS 


‘Does any one know of a large city church anywhere in 
America that has been able to produce its own leadership? 
If so, let him speak or forever hold his peace. This is a 
challenge that demands consideration. If the large city 
churches have not been able to produce their leadership, 
whence does it come? Whence come our ministers, our 
elders, our deacons, our Sunday school teachers and our 
leaders of other activities of the Church? I personally know 
of one of our very large city churches which has fifteen 
elders, thirteen of whom were born and reared on the farm. 
I know of a large city church in which the president of the 
Auxiliary and the leader of each one of the Circles are 
country women, 


If we fail to maintain the churches of the open country, 
where will the Church get her supporters and leaders in the 
world of tomorrow? 


60 


Pin Newi Gan, 


QUESTIONS 
What mistake do many mission workers make in presenting the 
call of their work? 


What constitutes the greatest reason for giving the Gospel to 
country people? 


3. Who will determine the future policies of the nation? 


How can large gifts for benevolent causes be secured? 


Whence come religious leaders? 


PARTE WO 





CHAPTER OMI 


THE DISCOVERY 


EFORE a man builds a house he should have a plan for 
B it. When a man buys a farm he has it surveyed. In 
entering upon a new field of service, one of the very first 
things a minister should do is to discover it. It will give him 
a knowledge of the material with which he has to work and 
on which he is to work. 


We are persuaded that a great many ministers, especially 
in the country, do not know the field in which they are work- 
ing. A Presbytery, through the agency of its Home Mission 
Committee, decided to conduct evangelistic meetings in every 
church within its bounds. One minister made the statement, 
“There is no necessity of conducting evangelistic services in 
my church. Everyone within our bounds is a member of the 
church.” Presbytery conducted the meeting and there were 
received into the fellowship of that congregation fifty-three 
people on profession of their faith in Christ. 


Another Presbytery decided to do the same thing and 
assigned a preacher for each congregation. On the arrival 
of an able minister, who had special evangelistic gifts, the 
pastor of a certain church met him at the station and said, 
“We are glad to see you. We are delighted you are here, 
but I will tell you in the beginning you need not expect many 
people to be received into the church as probably there is in 
the entire territory not a dozen people who are not professing 


62 aE NE WoOeA LT, 


Christians.” The visiting minister said, “I am sorry you did 
not let me know of this. My gifts are those of an evangelist, 
but since I am here I will do the best I can.” The meeting 
was conducted and twenty-seven were received on profession 
of their faith. These ministers simply did not know their 
congregations. 


The country minister should know all the details about his 
field such as church allegiance, church attendance, non-Chris- 
tians, members of other denominations, etc. 


FRIENDLY EVERY MEMBER CANVASS 


In order to help the country preacher, I have prepared a 
pad with sufficient blanks to take care of the records of the 
data for fifteen families. This pad is put in an envelope with 
directions on the front for a “Friendly Every Member Can- 
vass” and blank for making reports on the back. These may 
be secured from the Presbyterian Committee of Publication, 
Box 1176, Richmond, Va., for ten cents to cover the cost of 
printing. The instructions appearing on the front of the 
envelope are as follows: 


This canvass may be made by the Church Officers, the 
Men of the Church, or the Young People’s Society: 


1. There should be a Congregational Director appointed 
whose business it will be to organize the campaign and to 
whom reports are to be made. 


2. The community should be districted. 
3. The visitors should be appointed and assigned. 


4. They should be sent out scripturally—two and two. 


THe New CAtyu 63 


5. Prayer should be made for God’s guidance. 


6. The canvassers ought to talk with the people about com- 
munity betterment, especially through the Church. 


7. They should try to foster community spirit and Church 
loyalty. 


8. If possible, a portion of God’s Word may be read and 
a prayer offered with each family. 


9. The data for filling the blanks should be secured with 
as little ostentation as possible, but it must be gotten. 


10. When persons make pledges for future conduct, answer 
“ves” with circle around it. 


11. Return reports promptly to the Dircetor of the Canvass. 


_ This canvass may be made in one day. It is important that 
results be tabulated and a systematic follow-up work carried 
on. 


A-map should be made ‘of each district and also of the 
whole congregational territory and the homes located thereon. 


All family cards of denomination making canvass and no 
church preference should be filed, and others distributed to 
pastors according to church allegiance. 


CONSERVING RESULTS 


The data must be secured but it must not seem to be 
mechanical. We must avoid seeming to pry into personal 
matters. Get pastors of other denominations to join in this 
survey if possible, but do not fail to make the survey if the 
other denominations fail to co-operate. We want to be fair 
and just to other denominations. It is not our business to 
steal sheep, but it 1s our business to look after our own sheep 
and all the stray lambs. 


64 THe New Caty 


REPORT BLANK 


Immediately below is a reprint of the Summary Report, 
which is printed on the back of the envelope, and on the 
opposite page is shown the Family Church Record, a fac- 
simile of the blanks contained in the pad. 


SUMMARY REPORT 


Number Families each Denomination: 
Methodist..............2...0+ Baptists ee Episcopalianvevee.2- 


Number of persons members of each denomination..............0...c.e-:c-eeeeeeeee= 


Number’ of) prospects) oe tas Ss a 


LIST OF MY DENOMINATION 


Members Non-Members 
Men‘over’25 ‘years “of age! joie i eb eee 


Women over: 25 ‘years ‘of age. iG: Ree a ee 
Young ‘men: 18 to 25yearssofiage ole!) e222. es ee ee 
Women, 18 ito '25) ‘years of age oie hn oo ee ee 
Boys} :10 to;18 years of awe tu iy, ee ail ee 
Gifls,-10 to 18: yearstof awe is oo hi. eae ice eh a se ae 
Number of children under 10 years of age... 
What percentage of each group attends church regularly... 
What percentage of each group attends Sunday school... cee 


MAKE LISTS AS FOLLOWS: 


Names of those who are not members of the church in each group. 
Names of those who are not attending Sunday school in each group. 
Names of children under 10 years of age not baptized. 
Names of those who have family worship and those who have not. 
Names of those who take church paper and those who do not. 

Make a map of the district and indicate in some way location and 
church connection of each home. Some have used colored seals, 
others colored pins. 


65 


Poin Newt Garr 


‘SMUVNAA 








a a i a a fn | ee | 


| 


fn 


ee fm | 


aqaziLdvg TOOHOS AAV 
jodeg diysioM a Se S$ "Ss quepusiiy young a3V Ajlure J JO siaquiopy Jo oweyy 
young) Ajrae J Ioquisyy | Joquiayyy Iepnsoy Iaquisjy 
Salt Ae one aS 1S 10) ie Me ene er ae Re Een, ere Gama) a ag Se ee pestojotg Yyomys) 
orgy tae ce ANE Sa sDUPISIC [OOD Oe a ee ee ee ge eee ee Ce, ee ae ee ea ata 
JADA, )-JOIUO Mies wo a oy ee a a ee aD ane oe nm A RT ee oUIe NT 





66 THEeINe weCarp 


A country minister of Kentucky has used the colored pins — 
with success. He has made a map of his parish marking the 
homes of his own people with blue headed pins, those of other 
denominations with yellow and those of no church affiliation, 
which constitute prospects, with red pins. The game is to 
turn the red into blue pins. 

A list of each group should be filed as a working basis. 
With all the data at hand, it will be well to call together the 
congregation, or the whole community, and place the results 
on the blackboard. Social conditions and needs of the com- 
munity should be outlined. 


“Having made the study of the comunity, the statistics 
should be compiled and given wide publicity. Charts should 
be made and exhibited on bulletin boards in conspicuous 
places. The newspapers will be glad to use much of the 
tabulation. Each organization of the church should be made 
familiar with the needs revealed by the survey. The entire 
future of the community is being determined by the founda- 
tions which are laid today. Social science is much interested. 
in what happened here thirty years ago. The church needs 
to be just as much interested in what is going to happen 
thirty years from now in its own community. Its program 
must be made in the full realization of what the community 
Needs. 

John Frederic Oberlin made a minute study of his people. 
The book of records may still be seen in the parish house in 
Waldersbach. In it Pastor Oberlin kept an exact and careful 
statement of the ancestry, hereditary tendencies, characteris- 
tics and deeds of every member of the five villages under 
his pastoral charge. No necessary detail was insignificant 
to him. The interests which belong to the whole, belonged to 
every part. 

He had repeated calls to big churches, all of which he 
declined. At the age of fifty-six, after he had been in his 


*RoapMAN—‘‘The Program of the Country Church,” p. 39. 


THe New Catt 67 


charge twenty-eight years, an urgent call came. Beard in 
“The Story of John Frederic Oberlin,” says: 


“This wider knowledge of his qualities led to renewed 
overtures for him to leave his laborious cares in the hills and 
take charge of a church where cultured life would bring with 
it superior advantages, greater recognized honor, and a satis- 
factory salary. His answer was the same to all: ‘No, I will 
never leave this place. It took me ten years to learn every 
head in this parish, making an inventory of the moral, intel- 
lectual, and domestic wants of each. I have laid my plans 
for the future. JI must have at least ten years to carry these 
into execution, and I shall need the ten following to correct 
their faults and vices. God has confided this flock to me. 
Why should I abandon it?’ ”’. 


If a canvass like this is made once a year in every country 
congregation, the results of the canvass tabulated and the 
proper follow-up work carried on, the minister and his off- 
cers will be amazed at the results and few country ministers 
will ever feel that their work is finished. 

Information secured in such a canvass will be very valuable 
data for the Home Mission Committee, especially if the field is 
one that is receiving aid. Such a canvass will reveal the facts 
about the field. It may be that the denomination should with- 
draw and allow some other to do the work. It may reveal 
the fact that a larger appropriation should be made and an 
all-time, resident pastor provided for the community. The 
money which is committed to the Home Mission agency is a 
very sacred trust, and we ought to be very careful about the 


distribution of it. This survey will help the Committee to 
plan wisely. 


ALL AT WORK 


Such a survey gives a definite task which the minister can 
assign to his people and thus interest them in the community 


68 THe NEw Catt 


and develop their latent powers. The ideal church is one in 
which every member of the community is a member of the 
Sunday school, and every member of the Sunday school a 
member of the church, and every member of the church at 
work, 

Frances Ridley Havergal in her eat “The Ministry of 
Song,” says: 

“In God’s great field of labour, 
All work is not the same; 


He hath a service for each one, 
Who loves His holy name.” 


Saul of Tarsus became a great masterpiece of divine grace. 
The first question he asked when he met Christ on the road 
to Damascus was, “Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do?” 
Referring to this, years afterwards, he said: “I was not dis- 
obedient to the heavenly vision.” The way to develop efficiency 
in your people is to give them a definite task. They must have 
not only impression, but an opoprtunity for expression. Such. 
a survey will also enlist the co-operation of the people in 
reaching the unconverted and in finding those in the com- 
munity who do not attend church. If the preacher does not 
know his field and has no vision of it, what about the average 
officer ? 


“Owing to the scarcity of preachers, often one minister 
must perforce serve several churches, in each of which, ser- 
vices occur only once a month. In such cases, the only way 
to keep up the life of the church is to have a live Sunday 
school and Christian Endeavor Society. 

“Oftentimes the remedy for this gradual decay within the 
church lies just outside its doors, on the surrounding farms. 
While it may be true the landlords have moved away, the 
tenant population, like the poor, we have with us always. It 
is no easy task to win this class of people. Much tactful 
work must be done. They have to be made to understand 
one’s sincerity and genuine sympathy. 


PoE NeEwyCALn 69 


“From this class may come some who are destined for 
great things, if they are guided in the right direction. Joseph 
Smith, the former leader of Mormonism, was once a poor, 
neglected child on the outskirts of a village. If his feet had 
been set upon the right pathway, we might have escaped the 
blot of Mormonism upon our escutcheon. 


“One church whose doors had been closed through the 
winter months, and had not opened to begin Sunday school 
in the spring, welcomed an Assembly’s Training School 
worker in their midst for one month last summer. She made 
a survey which opened the eyes of the small handful of older 
members, who for years grieved to see their own children 
leave for town and city work, and often declared that there 
were none to whom to minister. They were shown that 
there were seventeen heads of families within a radius of 
two miles of the church, who were not members of any 
church. In all there were seventy-five people in that com- 
munity to whom they were responsible for religious training. 
A Sunday school and Christian Endeavor Society were or- 
ganized, which have functioned throughout this winter.”* 

The survey will arouse community spirit. As the visitors 
go around they should talk about making a better community. 
They should discuss how the church can help make it better. 
If the canvass is made in the right spirit, it will reveal to the 
people the interest which the Church has in their welfare. 
There are some who think the Church’s only care for them 
is to get their money. This is especially true of members of 
the church who have not been enlisted in any form of re- 
ligious service. If the visitors go in the spirit of the Master 
and bring the people to realize that they are a part of the 
community and a part of the church, a very essential part, 
and that the Church is sure to be what the members are, they 
will have the opportunity of causing the people to understand 
that the Church loves them and needs them. It will increase 
the Sunday school and church attendance. If the campaign 


*Presbyterian Survey, June, 1926. 


70 Tue New Catrt 


is carried on under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, it will 
lead to rededication of life, profession of faith, and additions 
to the church. 


There ought to be a great deal of spiritual preparation and 
much prayer preceding this canvass, for in it the visitors will 
have an opportunity for doing personal work and getting the 
people to enlist in religious service. Prayer should be made 
for God’s guidance of the canvass. It is essential that the 
canvassers have the right spirit in the enterprise. Read to 
them of the sending out of the seventy. The importance of 
reading a passage from God’s Word and having prayer with 
each family should be impressed upon them. 


QUESTIONS 
1. Why should a religious survey be made of every country con- 
gregation? 
2. How would you make a survey of some country community? 


3. How would you conserve the results of a religious census in a - 
country community ? 


AE ER Le 


A CONGREGATIONAL PROGRAM 


FTER the minister has discovered his field, has found 
yo Nite number of people in it, who are members of the 
church and who are not, the number of each denomination, 
etc., it will be necessary for him to make a workable program 
fitted to his own particular congregation. In order to do this, 
it is well to understand what the church is and what are its 
functions. 


The Church is not a mere human organization, like a lodge 
or fraternity. It is an organization divinely instituted of 
God, and its functions are primarily spiritual. Dr. John Holt 
Rice on his deathbed gave this definition: “The Church is 
God’s ordained missionary society, every member a life mem- 
ber.” The risen Christ has given us the program for His 
Church (Acts 1:8), “But ye shall receive power, after that 
the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses 
unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, 
and unto the uttermost part of the earth.” The Church was 
ordained of God to answer the prayer “Thy Kingdom come, 
Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven.” Every man 
who sincerely wants to see the Kingdom come and God’s will 
be done should join the Church. 


The field of the Church is all the world. It is the mission 
of the Church to carry the Gospel to every creature, teaching 
the principles of Christianity to every man. If the field of 
the whole Church is the world, the field of the individual 
congregation is the whole community — every man, woman 
and child in the community. It is the mission of the Church 
to minister to those of every class and every nationality, not 
just those who are well-to-do; not only to those who are con- 


vie THe New CAtyu 


genial, but to everybody who is not being taken care of by 
some other denomination. The bounds of our territory are 
the limits of the other minister’s. Our obligations stop where 
the other man’s extend. 

It is the business of the Church to know Christ and to 
make Him known. There are four ways in which the Church 
functions : 


1. THroucH WorsHIP 


Our worship should be simple. The church of the New 
Testament is our example. Worship expresses itself in the 
service of song, in prayer, and in giving. We function in 
worship in proportion as the soul expresses itself in consecra- 
tion to God. 


SINGING 


When I left the city and became a country pastor, I 
brought a good many of my city notions with me. One of 
the very first things I undertook to do was to get the congre- — 
gation to buy a pipe organ. They had an old Mason-Hamlin 
organ that they had used for about forty years. When this 
was first installed they had quite a discussion about having 
an organ at all. Some were in favor of it, and some thought 
that the devil was in the “kist 0’ whistles.” They had their 
pros and cons and, after much deliberation and consideration, 
a vote was taken. Those in favor of the organ were in the 
majority. One of the old elders who had led the minority 
arose and said, “If you people are determined to worship the 
Lord with machinery, I want you to get good one, and I will 
make a subscription of twenty dollars.” Soon after I came 
the people displaced the Mason-Hamlin with a new pipe 
organ. Iam not sure that | was wise in inducing the congre- 
gation to buy this. I believe it would have been better to 


Tue NEw Carr 73 


have spent that amount of money in giving to the younger 
generation a musical education. 


“Good music is an aid and poor music an abomination in 
the service of worship. We refer not to the art of singing, 
but to the content of the music. Nor do we mean that music 
must be difficult. Some of the most beautiful music is sim- 
ple. That music in the worshiping service is best in which it 
is possible for all to participate. We need congregational 
singing and a congregational director. The popular demand 
must become so widespread that our colleges and training 
centers will be compelled to train a leadership tor church and 
community music. 

“People sang during the World War. They enjoyed sing- 
ing. A type of music grew out of the experience of the day, 
the content of which was valuable though not classic. This 
kind of musical endeavor should be the ideal for our Chris- 
tian congregational effort. This was the type of the Wes- 
leyan music. The colliers of England, brought under the 
influence of Wesley’s sermons and of the class meeting, sang 
the music of faith and hope and inspiration which was native 
to the experience through which they were passing. They 
did not have books or instruments, but they made music. 
Such also is the music of the Negro spirituals. Church music 
must come from the heart.”* 


The country congregation should not try to imitate the city 
church with its choir. The most ideal worship in the minis- 
try of song that I know anywhere is in the Steele Creek con- 
gregation, near Charlotte, N. C. This is the largest church 
in the open country, probably in America. The pastor of 
that church told me there were a dozen men in this congrega- 
tion who could lead the singing. He never knew who was 
going to do it. The members of the congregation arranged 
that among themselves. They have a little organ up in front. 
They have no regular choir. All the people sing, and it has 
never been my privilege in be in any church where the sing- 


*Roadman, The Country Church and Its Program, pp. 77-78. 


74 Tue New Cat 


ing seemed to be more spontaneous nor a greater expression 
of the outpouring of the soul than in that great congregation 
which gathers in the Steele Creek church. The spirit of this 
worship in song probably has had something to do with the 
growth of that great rural institution. The pastor writes, 
June 10, 1926, as follows: 


“We have had for a number of years men and women who 
were specially gifted in music. As a result, some one of 
these has conducted singing schools quite frequently during 
the summertime and the congregation has been taught some- 
thing about the rudiments of music, the time element and the 
accent, as well as tone value. We are to have a school of 
music this year in connection with the Daily Vacation Bible 
School, in which we hope to enroll not a few.” 


A well-trained choir, with musical discrimination, does not 
usually care to have all the people sing. Some of them have 
a tendency to become disgusted at sounds which grate on the 
highly trained, sensitive, musical ear. An old Hollander in 
a congregation insisted on singing. One of the elders who 
was in the choir objected and it came to the ears of the old - 
Hollander. He said, “I hear the colonel don’t like to hear 
me sing. If he ever get to heaven he hear me sing.” 


The following is a fine sentiment from Frances Ridley 
Havergal : 


“Sing, when His mighty mercies 
And mervelous love you feel, 
And the deep joy of gratitude 
Springs freshly as you kneel; 
When words, like morning starlight, 
Melt powerless,—trise and sing! 
And bring your sweetest music 
To Him, your gracious King. 
Pour out your song before Him, 
To whom our best is due; 
Remember, He who hears your prayer 
Will hear your praises too.” | 


THe New Catt 75 


Paul, in Colossians 3:16, gives this advice: “Let the word 
of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and 
admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual 
songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.” 


PRAYER AND GIVING 


The second element of worship is prayer. The minister 
should pray for things in the way in which he thinks the 
people ought to pray. They, in spirit, are supposed to join 
with him in the service of public prayer. It is a very sacred 
and essential part of the worship, and all hearts should be 
brought very close to the Father. That minister will have a 
pastorate of power who is able to cultivate in his people a 
deeply spiritual prayer life—a prayer life that is not only 
manifest in the worship in the sanctuary, but of the closet 
and around the family altar. 


Giving is the third phase of worship. In the Scriptures it 
is made co-ordinate with prayer. We have in Acts 10:31 the 
co-ordinate conjunction, “Thy prayer is heard, and thine alms 
are had in remembrance in the sight of God.” Giving is a 
symbol of personal consecration. I work for a day. My 
time, my thought, my life’s energies have been transmuted 
into the money which I receive for the day’s work. It is so 
much of my life. I bring a portion of that day’s work and 
give it to the Master. My powers of body and mind under 
His blessing have been transmuted into so much of the cur- 
rency of our land. I bring that currency. I present it to 
God as a symbol of the consecration of my whole life, the 
consecration of my mind, my body, my life’s energies and, 
under His blessing, it is transmuted again into forms of living 
influence to be used for the blessing of mankind, for the 
glory of God and for the building of His Kingdom. 


76 THe New Cari 


2. THE CHurcH FUNCTIONS THROUGH PREACHING 


This includes the reading and exposition of the Scriptures 
properly illustrated and applied to meet the needs of the peo- 
ple to whom the message is directed. The country minister 
should be a pictorial preacher. He can discover no finer 
example than Jesus. Children in large numbers will attend 
upon his ministry. While the sermons should be very care- 
fully prepared, great pains should be taken to make the lan- 
guage simple. A muddy pool may seem very deep and a 
clear stream very shallow. The language of the rural minis- 
ter’s message should not be academic, but should be such as 
to present the truth in a logical, clear, forceful and simple 
style. He should remember that the food is for lambs and 
not for giraffes and should, therefore, be put down where 
the lambs can reach it. 

In our program for preaching, we ought to strive to pre- 
sent the whole truth. A farmer, if he is to get results from 
his dairy herd, must provide a balanced ration. The preacher 
should give to his people a complete gospel. He should not 
be a faddist and spend all of his time on one feature of the - 
truth. He should not confine his preaching to one method of 
presentation. Huis sermons, with ample preparation, should 
present the whole scope of the religious messsage. 

God in His wisdom gave to the preaching of the Gospel a 
very prominent place as He has chosen by the “Foolishness 
of preaching” to save the world. 


3. TEACHING Is ALSO A FUNCTION OF THE CHURCH 


Jesus said, “Go ye into all the world and preach the Gospel, 
teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have com- 
manded you.’ For a long time the Church neglected its edu- 
cational functions. Today we are laying great stress on Sun- 
day schools, Daily Vacation Bible Schools, Week-day Church 


ham Ne we Gai Ti, 


schools and Christian colleges. We are rightly emphasizing 
the importance of the training of men and women to become 
leaders in the matters of religious education. The country 
preacher needs to place special emphasis on the ample prepa- 
ration and training of teachers for Sunday school work. In 
the past our rural public schools have not been equal to our 
urban schools. Even today we are spending about twice as 
much money per capita on the urban child as we are on the 
rural child, yet children in the country are now getting much 
better qualified teachers to train them in mathematics, geog- 
raphy, history, rhetoric, etc., than formerly, so there is a call 
today that the country Sunday school teachers and instructors 
in the Daily Vacation Bible Schools shall do their work just 
as thoroughly, competently and efficiently as do the teachers 
in public schools. 


4. Tue FourtH FUNCTION OF THE CHURCH IS SERVICE 


There has been a great deal of heresy in this particular 
sphere. A great deal of social service teaching is not rightly 
related with the whole program of the Church. No one can 
study the life of our Lord or the history of the New Testa- 
ment Church and not be convinced that service naturally 
grows out of worship and preaching and religious training. 

James was right when he said, “Faith without works is 
dead.” The country minister and his church are responsible 
for everything that pertains to the making of a better com- 
munity. They are responsible for better schools, and if there 
are no agencies to perform this function it becomes the busi- 
ness of the Church to establish and operate schools. It has a 
responsibility to the whole community. 

Jesus spent a great deal of time healing people and amelio- 
rating their life conditions. If there are not other agencies 
functioning, it becomes the business of the Church to estab- 


78 TuHeE New CAatyu 


lish and maintain hospitals. It is the businesss of the Church 
to ameliorate living conditions, and it should set in action 
movements that will make for better homes and encourage 
everything that pertains to a better Christian social order. 

Of course, the prime function of the Church is to preach 
the Gospel. It produces the right kind of men and women 
and the right kind of men and women will solve all the eco- 
nomical, political, social and industrial. problems. But the 
teachings of the Church should be such as to train its mem- 
bers to carry out intelligently and efficiently the program of 
an applied Christianity. It is the business of the Church to 
make the right kind of individuals and to create the right 
kind of social order in which they are to function. The 
Church should provide for a wholesome social and recrea- 
tional life for its young people. 

In making out a program for the individual church, we 
should keep in mind these four ways in which the Church 
functions and work out our program to suit the local needs 
and conditions. 


QUESTIONS 
Give a definition of the Church and define its functions ? 
What should be the nature of worship in a country church? 


Construct in your own way a program for a country congregation. 


et ad od Oe ps 


How can worship through singing best be promoted in the country 
church? 

5. How would you develop prayer life and promote stewardship in 
the country church? 

6. What should be characteristics of the preaching in the country 
church? 

7. Why should the country Sunday School have well-trained 
teachers ? 

8. Is there a need for a program of social service in the country? 


CHAD TER AV LLL 


SPIRITUAL LEADERSHIP 


ESUS spent three years in organizing a band of men to 
J carry on the work of the Church after He had finished 
His earthly task. That minister is most efficient who organ- 
izes and trains others. The Scriptures, both Old and New 
Testaments, tell us of the church officers. Their duties and 
functions are defined. The denominations have in the main 
adopted the various scriptural names. 


It was wise advice that the father-in-law of Moses gave 
him when he said, “The thing that thou doest is not good. 
Thou wilt surely wear away, both thou, and this people that 
is with thee: for this thing is too heavy for thee; thou art not 
able to perform it thyself alone. . . . Thou shalt provide out 
of all the people able men, such as fear God, men of truth, 
hating covetousness; and place such over them, to be rulers 
of thousands, and rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and 
rulers of tens.”* 


The Apostle Paul ordained elders in every city. He trained 
these men for the task of the development and leadership of 
the spiritual life of the Church, and when he left the church 
he committed it. to their charge. When he wrote a letter to 
the congregation he addressed them through the elders and 
deacons. They had elders in Jerusalem and in Antioch and 
the Apostles and elders went up to Jerusalem to decide upon 
the policies concerning the life and practices of the Churcht 

When Paul and Barnabas preached in Antioch of Pisidia, 
in Lystra and in Iconium they organized a church in each 
place and elders were elected. When the Apostle Paul wished 


*Exodus 18:17-18, 21. 
+See Phil. 1:1. 
tSee Acts 15. 


SO THe Naw CALL 


to consult the church at Ephesus he called the elders down to 
Miletus and had a conference with them there on the sea- 
shore. All organizations of the church should begin with its 
officers. Organization does not necessarily mean the creating 
of new societies. It sometimes means getting to function 
those which already exist. 


This treatise does not propose to advocate any particular 
form of church government, but as the experience of the 
author has been in dealing with elders and deacons, he asks 
the permission of his readers to use these names for church 
officers. “A rose by any other name smells just as sweet.” 
Ministers whose officers bear a different name may substitute 
the names with which they are familiar when I use elder and 
deacon. 


When God ordained His Church He provided for a whole 
bench of secretaries of spiritual resources. The eldership is 
the body which is made responsible for the development of 
the spiritual life of the congregation. Elders are supposed to 
be the most spiritual men in the community. At any rate, — 
they are the people’s chosen representatives, the people’s 
chosen spiritual leaders in the congregation. There is a great 
temptation, when a minister finds his officers are reactionary 
and very conservative, to go over their heads and appoint 
others to function in their place. This sometimes leads to a 
disruption of the church. 


It is well for the pastor to spend a good deal of time, espe- 
cially when he first goes to a church, with the officers. His 
elders may be reactionary, they may be “old fogy,” some of 
them may need converting, but they are probably the best 
men in the community. He may have only one elder. His 
first businesss should be to get this one elder, or two, or 
whatever number he has, to function. Unless their interest 
and co-operation are obtained, the pastor will find that his 


THe New Cay | 81 


hands are tied in the organization of other societies. It will 
be impossible, without the co-operation and sympathetic help 
of his spiritual leaders, to put on any real constructive pro- 
gram for his congregation. It is necessary for the pastor 
and the officers to work as a unit. 


CONGREGATION DISTRICTED* 


The first thing for the pastor to do in the organization of 
spiritual leaders is to district his congregation and make one 
territory for each elder. The elder is under-shepherd and 
should be made responsible for the development of the spir- 
itual life of his particular district. The pastor should visit, 
in. company with the elder, every family under his charge. 
They together should endeavor to get the people to take a 
religious newspaper and see that there is other good literature 
in the home. They should stimulate Bible reading and make 
it an aim that every home have a family altar. The elder 
should be made responsible for seeing that the people com- 
mitted to his charge attend upon the services of the church— 
preaching and Sunday school. He should not only report 
cases of. sickness in his territory, but also visit and pray with 
his people. When the elder realizes there is a responsibility 
resting upon him for the development of the spiritual life of 
the community committed to his charge—just as much as the 
responsibility upon the pastor for the spiritual life of the 
whole congregation—the minister has gone very far toward 
the solution of the problem of church life. 


COMMITTEES 


In the second place, the eldership should be organized by 
appointing certain committees, one elder for each of the be- 
nevolent causes of the church. It becomes the duty of this 

*While the treatment is of the large church, each district is conceived of as a 


congregational unit. It is therefore applicable to the small church, which may 
constitute one or two districts. 


82 THe New Catt 


committee to carry on a campaign of education in the congre- 
gation in the benevolence which he represents. A definite 
time should be set for these committees to make reports. 


NO VACANT CHURCHES 


The eldership, in the third place, should be trained in doing 
personal work and in leading in public worship. Every Ses- 
sion should be a soul-winning society. There is no such thing 
in the New Testament order as a vacant church. One of the 
great unused powers of the Presbyterian denomination is its 
eldership. The Baptists have a great number of farmer 
preachers, as do the Church of the Brethren. The Method- 
ists have local preachers. When the minister is absent, or 
when the church is without a pastor, it is the duty of the 
elder to keep the church open and to be responsible for some 
kind of a religious service. One of the strong points of the 
Christian, or Disciple, Church is that elders are made respon- 
sible for conducting Communion services every Sunday, and 
if they do nothing more than administer the Lord’s Supper 
they bring the people together and keep the church doors 
open. By thus laying responsibility upon the eldership, the 
spiritual life of the church will be maintained. While 
preachers come and preachers go, elders stay on forever. 

The spiritual leaders should be so organized as to secure 
regular attendance upon the church meetings, such as Confer- 
ences, Associations, Presbytery, etc. 


A NOVEL METHOD 


In the fourth place, the spiritual leaders should be so or- 
ganized that each elder will be able to know when any of the 
people in his district are not attending church or Sunday 
school. 

Rev. Ray St. Clair, pastor of the Portland Presbyterian 
Church, Louisville, Ky., has originated a plan for a city 


Late? New: GALL 83 


church which might be worked in an admirable way in a 
country community. A complete roll of the congregation is 
written out on beaverboard, framed and put up in the back 
of the church building. A young woman who works as vol- 
unteer secretary has a complete roll of the church. At each 
service she marks those who are present in a little book and 
then transfers her record to the roll on the beaverboard. 
During the week a committee for each district visits those 
who have been absent on Sunday. 

The elder for each district should have a committee to 
assist him in functioning. 

One of the troubles of the age is the tendency to put upon 
the pastor all the responsibility. There is a notion abroad 
that he is paid to do the work, and therefore the individual 
members of the congregation and its officers are released of 
any responsibility for the life and development of the church. 
This is not according to the New Testament model. The 
Church is a brotherhood’ and every member is, in a sense, 
responsible for the welfare of his fellow-member, but in a 
special sense the officers are made responsible for the devel- 
opment of the religious life of the people of the congregation. 


TIME AND SERVICE PLEDGE 


The minister when first taking a pastorate should secure a 
pledge of time and service from his spiritual leaders. If the 
officers are not willing to give their time, the minister will be 
terribly handicapped in carrying on the work. 

There should be a regular constructive program for the 
work. There should be a set time for each meeting and the 
minister should make a list of things to be considered. In 
the New Providence Church the Session spends two whole 
days, one in the fall and one in the spring; in semi-annual 
meetings. The minutes for six months are read and ap- 


84 THE New Catyi 


proved; all of the committees reports on their work and each 
elder gives a summary of the spiritual conditions in his dis- 
trict; the roll of the church is read, and in each case where 
there is a laxness on the part of any individual with reference 
to church attendance or the practices of his life he is taken 
under consideration. At this meeting the roll is purged. If 
members have moved beyond the bounds of the congregation, 
some member of the Session is appointed to notify the minis- 
ter into whose bounds he has moved. Opportunity is taken 
to discuss all the policies pertaining to the life of the congre- 
gation. Every matter is thoroughly discussed, and every 
member of the Session asked for his views. 

Dr. John H. Jowett, in giving advice with reference to the 
Church, says, “Never move with small majorities.” Usually 
where there is a frank and free discussion, there will be an 
unanimous agreement, while if matters are passed hastily 
divisions may arise because of misapprehensions. It is a 
good practice when there is objection to a new policy to 
delay the matter for further consideration. Only in very rare 
cases has there been a question decided on a divided vote in 
the Session of twelve elders where I have been pastor. If 
there is a divided vote, the best thing is to delay action. 
Things had better not be done than to be done in a way 
which will cause a divided church. 


ELECTION OF OFFICERS 


There are various ways of electing officers in a church. 
Sometimes the Session makes nominations; sometimes nomi- 
nations are made from the floor; sometimes it is done by a 
nominating committee. In the country church, the best way 
to proceed is first to preach for two or three Sundays on 
the scriptural authority, the duties and the functions of the 
officers to be elected, and upon the reciprocal duties of the 


THe New Catt 85 


congregation to their chosen men. The people should be 
asked to earnestly pray for God’s guidance in the matter of 
their selection. 


After the governing body has decided how many officers, 
elders or deacons, the church needs, each member of the 
church should be asked to write down the names of the per- 
sons whom they consider, after prayerful thought, best fitted 
to fulfill the qualifications as set down in the Scriptures. The 
people should be cautioned against electioneering. I do not 
believe that a minister or the officers should express their 
personal preference, If a preacher does, others will do it. 
Emphasis should be laid upon the fact that officers are 
selected by the Holy Spirit. The Apostle Paul said to the 
Ephesian elders, “Take heed unto the flock over which the 
Holy Ghost has made you overseers.” 


If six men are to be elected, it should be agreed before- 
hand that if any one receives the majority of all votes cast 
he will be declared elected, and that a double number of 
those still to be elected receiving the highest vote will be 
declared nominees. The taking of the nominating ballot will 
require only a few minutes. A committee should be ap- 
pointed for the election of elders from the eldership and for 
the deacons from the diaconate. When the nominating ballot 
is received, the chairman of the committee should take charge 
of the ballots, put them in a satchel and lock them up. Some 
time during the week this committee should meet with the 
pastor and count the ballots. On the next Sunday morning 
the result of the ballot may be announced, nominees named, 
and another vote taken. The committee may retire and 
count the ballots, if it is practically sure there is an election, 
while the congregation proceeds with the worship. 


In the country congregation everybody knows everybody 
else. Practically all the people are related. If you appoint a 


86 Tue New CAatyi 


nominating committee, it is probable that some near relative 
of some member of the committee is one who ought to be 
elected. An embarrassing situation is created whether the 
committee nominates him or not. 


Election of officers in country churches frequently cause 
divisions and disruptions. Hard feelings that last for years 
are aroused. When a member is left to vote his own senti- 
ments and is requested to seek the guidance of the Spirit in 
the casting of his ballot without undue influence being exer- 
cised by any individual, there can be no reason for hard 
feelings; there can be no excuse for the charge that the 
preacher, or some other individual, is trying to run the 
church. 


Other plans may be advisable in city churches, especially 
in large city congregations where the people are not ac- 
quainted with each other. 


If it does happen that some man who is unregenerate has 
been elected and the minister is strongly of the opinion that 
he is unfit for the office, he has an opportunity to deal with 
that man individually. If I were pastor, and such a man 
were elected, I would go to him in person and say, “This 
congregation believes that you are aman of God; and now, 
just as man to man, face to:face, is that true? The congre- 
gation has placed upon you.a responsibility. Are you willing 
to surrender your life to God? Are you going to assume the 
responsibilities of the office, recognizing the obligations?” If 
a man is unregenerate when faced with the great responsi- 
bilities, and is unwilling to yield his heart to Christ and 
endeavor to do His will, the probabilities are that he will not 
accept. In case such a man insisted upon accepting, I would 
continue to deal with him and put off the ordination. The 
Scriptures say, “Lay hands suddenly on no man.” An un- 


THe New Caty ) 87 


regenerate leadership is sometimes like a millstone about the 
neck of a country church. 


FELLOW-LABORERS 


I would lay great emphasis upon the importance of the 
elder being the spiritual leader of his district. When a minis- 
ter takes an elder with him into the homes of the people and 
gets him down on his knees in their presence to pray with 
them, he will begin to realize something of the responsibili- 
ties which God has placed upon him. The Apostle Paul is 
continually speaking of those who work with him as his 
“fellow-laborers.” There is no association that is more 
sacred. There is no relationship that is more beautiful than 
that which exists between the minister and the spiritual 
leaders of his people, as they labor together for the upbuild- 
ing of their congregation. Witness the conference which 
Paul had at Miletus with the elders of the church of 
Ephesus. * 

“Take heed, therefore, unto yourselves, and to all the 
flock over which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, 
to feed the church of God, which He hath purchased with 
His own blood. For I know this, that after my departing 
shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the 
flock. Also of your ownselves shall men arise, speaking per- 
verse things, to draw away disciples after them. Therefore 
watch, and remember, that by the space of three years I 
ceased not to warn every one night and day with tears. And 
now, brethren, I commend you to God, and to the word of 
His grace, which is able to build you up, and to give you an 
inheritance among all them which are sanctified. I have 
coveted no man’s silver, or gold, or apparel. Yea, ye your- 
selves know, that these hands have ministered unto my neces- 
sities, and to them that were with me. I have shewed you 
all things how that so labouring ye ought to support the 
weak, and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how He 


*See Acts 20:28-38. 


88 THe New CAatyu 


said, it is more blessed to give than to receive. And when 
he had thus spoken, he kneeled down, and prayed with them 
all. And they all wept sore and fell on Paul’s neck, and 
kissed him, sorrowing most of all for the words which he 
spake, that they should see his face no more. And they 
accompanied him unto the ship.” 


QUESTIONS 


1. Where does the Church find the model for its organization? 


2. What policy would you pursue to prevent division in the congre- 
gation? | 
3. How would you district your congregation? 


4. Should there ever be a vacant church? 


5. How should a country church elect its officers ? 


COA PD i hela 
LEADERS OF MINSTRATION 


HE special function of the New Testament elders 
ar seemed to be todevelop the spiritual resources of the 
congregation. The special function of the deacons seemed to 
be to develop the life of service in the church. The word 
“deacon” means “one who is a servant.” The law of service 
is the law of spiritual growth in the Kingdom of God. When 
the disciples were talking about position in the church, Jesus 
told them that recognition in the Kingdom of God depended 
upon the measure of their service. Matt. 20:25-28. “But 
Jesus called them unto him, and said, Ye know that the 
princes of the Gentiles exercise dominion over them, and they 
that are great exercise authority upon them. But it shall not 
be so among you: but whosoever will be great among you, 
let him be your minister; and whosoever will be chief among 
you, let him be your servant: Even as the Son of man came 
not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give His 
life a ransom for many.” 


The office of deacon is one of great honor and dignity. 
Acts 6:3-4, “Wherefore, brethren, look ye out among you 
seven men of honest report, full of the Holy Ghost and wis- 
dom, whom we may appoint over this business. But we will 
give ourselves continually to prayer, and to the ministry of 
the word.” The essential qualifications of the first deacons 
were that they were to be spiritually minded, they were to be 
honest men and wise men, but above all they were to be spir- 
itual. Frequently the deacons have been looked upon as only 
the financiers of the church, the men who know how to col- 


90 Te New GALL 


lect and handle money. The functions of the deacon are very 
much more than this.* 

The Board of Deacons is an important organization of the 
church. The church authorities may make apportionments. 
These may be passed down and adopted by the co-operative 
bodies, accepted by the individual churches, but the Board of 
Deacons is the organization of last analysis. If the deacon 
who deals with the individual members fail to perform his 
duty, to educate his people in stewardship, to secure their 
pledges, the church will not have funds sufficient to carry on 
the work of the Kingdom at home and abroad. The deacon 
is the key man in the local church. If he does not perform 
his task, the church will not have funds to maintain a minis- 
ter, and without a resident minister, experience teaches us 
that a country church declines. Therefore, it is very essen- 
tial that the deacons be organized, trained and given a vision 
for their task. The preacher should see that his deacons are 
trained, properly informed and thoroughly enlisted in an in- 
telligent way in the great movements of the church. 


ORGANIZATION 


The Board of Deacons should be organized, in the first 
place, in order that they may learn how to dignify the work 
in their own-eyes. They should learn something of the real 
responsibility that God has placed upon them when He, 
through the guidance of the Holy Spirit, has directed the 
people to choose them for their particular work. 

In the second place, they should be organized for the pur- 
pose of training them for the duties of their office. The 
average country deacon has not had the opportunities that 
one in the city church has. The average city deacon has had 
business experience as a merchant, railroad man, traveling 


*T Tim. 8-15. 


THe NEw Catt 91 


man, office man, etc., and the probabilities are that he has had 
a course in some business school. The average farmer has 
not had that kind of training. The country man is just as 
potential for leadership as his city cousin, but he is not de- 
veloped and trained, therefore, there is more reason for or- 
ganizing a Board of Deacons in the country than in the city. 
They are used to organization there and probably will organ- 
ize whether the pastor suggests it or not. 


STEWARDSHIP 


In the third place, the deacons should be organized because 
it is the duty of the deacon to develop the people in the grace 
of giving. Some churches have a secretary of stewardship. 
While it is necessary to have some man in the congregation 
to lead the whole church, every deacon by virtue of his office 
is a secretary of stewardship. If the congregation is dis- 
tricted, just as for the elders, the deacon should be the secre- 
tary of stewardship for his own district. It is his business 
to distribute stewardship literature and carry on a campaign 
of education among the people committed to his charge. 
People will give if they are educated in the needs, privileges, 
duties and joys of giving. If they are taught that this is a 
part of their worship of God and is a very sacred thing, they 
will gladly respond. 


The Apostle Paul just before he set out on this third mis- 
sionary journey at Antioch organized a campaign of steward- 
ship. He selected Titus and put him at the head of it. If 
the deacon wants some real good literature on the subject of 
stewardship he can find nothing better than II Corinthians 
the 8th and 9th chapters. 


A great many of our country congregations have not been 
developed—have not learned to know their privileges with 


92 Tae NewsGace 


reference to stewardship. Dr. Melvin, Secretary of the Com- 
mittee of Stewardship of the Presbyterian Church, U. S., 
says that 25 per cent of the congregations of the Southern 
Presbyterian Church do not have an every-member canvasss. 
Most of these are in the country. 


A city minister when asked what he conceived to be the 
chief problem of the rural church said, “It is the lack of de- 
velopment in stewardship. People move from the country 
to my congregation and, without added ability, increase their 
gifts four- or fivefold.” 


Back in the country church, some leading man of the con- 
gregation probably gave ten or fifteen dollars to the church 
for his yearly subscription. He is known to be a man of 
considerable property. Other men gauge their gifts by his. 
It will be necessary for the deacons to teach their people 
that no one can gauge his obligations to God by what another 
man does or plans to do. But it is human nature for a man 
to act in this way. A country man sees his neighbor give 
ten dollars and he feels that is the measure of his own obli- 
gation. He moves to the city and finds that his neighbor has 
been developed in the grace of giving. A man whose ability — 
is no greater than his own is giving perhaps four hundred or 
five hundred dollars a year. He finds it is the fashion for 
people to give and he follows the example of his neighbor. 


Deacons will need to stress tithing and the privileges of 
the freewill offering. They will need to show the scriptural 
method and the scriptural standards of giving. They will 
want to teach their people that all we have comes to us as 
gifts from God. Our time, our strength of body and mind, 
our ability, everything which we gather about us and call our 
own belongs to Him and we are but stewards who are hand- 
ling His money. Therefore, the measure of our giving 


THe New Catt 93 


should be as God has prospered us and as God’s spirit stirs 
our hearts to give of our substance. 


SOCIAEPSERVICE 


Deacons should also be organized to learn their duties and 
responsibilities with reference to social service. The deacon 
is the scripturally appointed officer of ministration. The 
Levite in Old Testament days was to function in taking care 
of the poor. It is the business of the deacon to lead the 
church in relief service and in whatever pertains to com- 
munity betterment. The duties of the deacon, therefore, are 
not only to develop the people in stewardship, but also to de- 
velop the congregation in fulfillment of the obligations and 
privileges of serving the community. 

His functions in the country are somewhat different from 
those in the city. In the city it may be the duty of the deacon 
to find a mana job. In the country it may be to help him do 
the job he has already. A country man may get sick. He 
is not able to plow his fields; he is not able to put out his 
crop; not able to carry on the work of the farm. He is living 
in the district of a certain deacon. It becomes the business 
of that deacon to organize the community and to do for that 
neighbor what he is not able to do for himself. One of the 
farmers in the community dies and leaves his wife and or- 
phan children. The easy thing would be to send the children 
off to an orphanage, but the best thing to do will be for the 
deacon to organize the community and carry on the farming 
operations until the children are old enough to take up the 
task which their father laid down. It is very much better for 
the children to be kept on the farm under the tutelage of a 
godly mother, under the guidance and protection of the 
church, than to be sent to any public institution, it matters 
not how efficient that institution may be. 


94 THe New Catyi 


The support of our orphanges is an exceedingly important 
part of our benevolences, but the deacon should be a man of 
vision and see the task within the bounds of his congregation. 
James 1:27 reads, “Pure religion and undefiled before God 
and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in 
their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the 
world.” He should be the leader to point the way for the 
congregation to take up the task before it in order to alleviate 
the sufferings of the poor and solve the problems of those 
who have been overtaken by misfortune. 

Deacons should function in the whole sphere of social 
service—in the promotion of better schools, of better sani- 
tation, of better methods of farming—whatever pertains to 
the welfare of the community in which the church is located. 
The Board of Deacons constitute the organization through 
which the Church articulates itself in performing its task in 
the promotion of a better social order and community im- 
provement. | 

Another function of the Board of Deacons is to look after 
and keep in repair the church property. The deacons should 
have a committee of local improvements and repairs, and 
either the whole or a part of the board should constitute the — 
Board of Trustees, which is usually appointed by the civil 
court upon recommendation of the congregation. 


THE CEMETERY 


The country church should have beside it a cemetery, and 
this should be kept beautiful. This becomes a sort of a 
mecca for the country-side and is a contributing factor in 
making the church a community center. It is here great con- 
gregations will gather for the last sad rites. It is here they 
will come to lay a flower or to drop a tear upon the grave of 
father, or mother, or husband, or wife, or beloved child, and 


bore New CALs 95 


as they visit the graves of these dear ones the bells of yester- 
day will be set a-ringing. There will be revived many hal- 
lowed associations and precious memories. After a visit to 
God’s acre that holds all which is mortal of their beloved, 
they will pass into the sanctuary in a reverent mood, their 
hearts tender, and their minds awakened to receive the truth 
and to be impressed by it. 

The Board of Deacons should have the following commit- 
tees: Budget, Stewardship, Church Property, Relief, Ceme- 
tery, and Community Betterment, as well as any others that 
may be found necessary. 

There should be stated joint meetings with the elders in 
order to discuss matters that pertain to the church as a whole. 


QUESTIONS 


1. Why is the office of deacon of so much importance in the country 
church? 
2. Why should the Board of Deacons be thoroughly organized in the 
country church? 
3. How should relief work be carried on in a country congregation? 


4. Why should every country church maintain a cemetery hard by? 





PART THREE 





ELA Leh, 


Hakivi PROS P PR DIY AN DERE 
COUNTRY CHURCH 


HERE is a vital relationship between the life of a coun- 

try church and the prosperity of the community in 
which it is located. We are aware of the fact that during 
times of adversity there is apt to be spiritual growth, and in 
times of prosperity men are prone to forget God. But no 
church can exist unless it can support a minister. No church 
can do an adequate missionary task beyond its borders—can 
give extensively to benevolences or to the advancement of 
the Kingdom—unless the people have a certain degree of 
prosperity. 

In the country when agriculture becomes unprofitable the 
people are discouraged and disheartened. Farm hands and 
tenants who are not held by land tenure go to the towns and 
cities where they may secure employment ; landowners become 
discontented and lose interest. Young men and young women, 
children of landowners, leave their old home place to seek 
their fortunes and are ultimately lost to the community. 
Unprofitable economic conditions have proved the death of 
many a country church. Newcomers in the neighborhood 
may not care for the church or may be of the “Holy Roller” 
type. What service can the minister and the Church render 
to prevent this state of afiairs? 

First, they can follow the Master’s example and see that 
the poor have the Gospel preached unto them.. This is a duty 
and a privilege. It is also a policy of self-preservation for the 


98 Trae New, CALL 


country church. It is the law of life that those who till the 
soil will some day own it. There is no survival of any family 
in the country except of those who actually work with their 
hands. Industry is the law of rural life. The days of the 
country gentleman are over except as he has an income from 
some other source than the land. 

Tenants and their families must receive the serious atten- 
tion of the country church, if the church of that denomina- 
tion is to continue to live. The sons and daughters, or grand- 
sons and granddaughters, of these tenants will some day own 
the land of the community, and the life of the church which 
neglects them will be doomed. 


UNPROFITABLE AGRICULTURE 


Unprofitable agriculture, which may destroy the country 
church, is sometimes due to causes that are preventable. It 
may be due to crop failure. Now and then this may be on 
account of weather conditions, but that is true only occasion- 
ally, and such a calamity can be withstood. We have the 
promises of the Scripture, “While the earth remaineth, seed- 
time and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, 
and day and night shall not cease.” 

There are many other causes of crop failure, and these 
become disastrous. Failure may be on account of infected 
seed, such as root rot in corn, or smut in barley. It may be 
due to degenerate seed. The laws of degeneracy are stronger 
than the laws of improvement. Burbank’s experiments have 
demonstrated that plant life can be improved. Every observer 
of nature knows how rapidly and inevitably degeneracy takes 
place in both plant and animal life unless there is intelligent 
superintendence. 

Crop failure may be due to the use of a seed of a variety 
unsuited to the soil and climate. Italian clover seed means a 


Tue New Catt 99 


failure when sown in the United States north of the 32nd 
degree of latitude. 


Crop failure may be due to soil robbing. When the crop 
is raised on the same land year after year it takes the elements 
of plant food out of the soil and leaves it depleted. This is 
happening in many sections of our country. Farmers are 
prone to do things over and over in the same way their 
fathers did them, and are surprised that they are not able to 
raise the crops their fathers raised. 


Failure may be due to the wrong kind of fertilizer. Fre- 
quently high prices are paid for fertilizer when there is al- 
ready an abundance of that particular kind of food for plants 
in the soil and the elements which are really needed are not 
provided. 

Unwise methods of cultivation such as plowing when the 
soil is not in the proper condition or cultivation by wrong 
methods and at wrong times are other causes of crop failure. 

Failure is also frequently due to some new pest of fungi 
or insect life. 

Unprofitable agriculture is sometimes due to the commun- 
ity continuing to raise crops which are not saleable at a profit 
any longer because they are produced so much more cheaply 
in other sections. 

Unprofitableness is sometimes due to unwise and expensive 
methods of farm operation. The tractor may speed up pro- 
duction, but it usually very much increases the cost. Speed- 
ing up production means lower prices for the products and, 
if it is to be produced at a greater cost, it means a loss in 
profit. It is unwise for a farmer to go in debt for a tractor 
unless it be under very unusual circumstances. 

Agriculture may be unprofitable because of the lack of 
proper methods of distribution. Most farmers are in debt 
and they are forced to sell on low markets, and the middle- 


100 THe New Catt 


men who buy and hold until the markets are more favorable, 
frequently make more money as their profit than the farmer 
gets for producing. On everything the farmer buys the price 
is set by the seller, and on everything the farmer sells the 
price is set by the buyer. The country man, on account of 
his individualism, usually is not willing to co-operate in a way 
that will get him a just return for his labor. 

In a livestock community unprofitable agriculture may be 
due to the use of scrub sires and unwise methods of feeding 
and in the keeping of animals that are poor specimens, in- 
stead of those that are producing at a profit. Experiment 
stations in Tennessee and Missouri each prove that a pure 
bred ram produced in a flock of thirty sheep between $125 
and $130 more than a common ram in one year’s production 
of lambs. Cow testing associations in dairy districts have 
revealed that one herd of cows is being kept at a loss while 
another herd properly bred is producing an ample profit. 

There are hundreds of other causes which may contribute 
to unprofitable agriculture, but those mentioned above will 
serve to illustrate. 


WHAT CAN THE PREACHER DO? 


Now, what can the country preacher do in cases like this? 
It is never wise for him to seem to be officious or to play 
the role of a reformer in matters of economics. It is not the 
business of the preacher to teach people how to farm, but he 
may get in touch with those agencies which can assist them 
to work out in detail methods which will solve their problems. 
It is never wise for him to accept an office in any organization 
for the solution of economic difficulties. 

Isaac Walton gave three rules for catching trout. The 
first is “keep out of sight,’ the second, “keep out of sight” 
and the third, “keep out of sight.” These are very good rules 


THe New Catt 101 


for the country preacher. He may be the most intelligent 
man in the community. In fact, he ought to be. He should 
be well informed with reference to all the problems that 
confront his people, not only that he may have sympathy and 
be able to establish a point of contact, but in order that he 
may be able to make suggestions which will prove helpful. 


He ought to keep his pulpit sacred for preaching the 
Gospel and expounding the teachings of the Scriptures, but 
in his daily contact with his people and in the social gather- 
ings and in co-operating with them in their various organiza- 
tions, such as the Farmers’ Union, the Farm Bureau, the 
Grange, the Community League, etc., he should be in a posi- 
tion to make suggestions which will lead to the solution of 
their problems. 


Suppose the cause of crop failure is due to infected, de- 
generate, or improper seed. There is at the disposal of the 
community, if someone will establish the point of contact, 
- the Seed Service of the state and a specialist along this line 
will be glad to talk to the farmers upon invitation to do so. 
For any of the problems the agricultural demonstration agent 
will be glad to give assistance and instruction, if he is invited. 


The preacher can keep out of sight and yet can make sug- 
gestions to wise leaders of his community or congregation 
which will lead to the solution of their problems and he may 
not even be known in the matter, though he may be in the 
economic prosperity of the community an asset of a value 
far greater than the amount which he receives for his salary. 
It may mean, if he is wise, the difference between a prosper- 
ous and a bankrupt community and in saving the community 
he saves himself and his church. There is also need in many 
rural communities that principles of honesty and policies of 
righteousness be inculcated. 


102 THe New CAatu 


“Essential economic lessons to be learned today are those 
of idealism, of integrity, and of justice. The problem of soil 
robbing is essentially a problem of honesty. We recognize 
the menace of stealing when a man robs a boy’s pocket; but 
we fail to recognize that the man who robs the soil is just 
as certainly robbing the pocket of the boy. We have laws 
and a police force to protect the former. We have only the 
Gospel and its eternal application in justice to apply to the 
latter. 

“Soil fertility and maximum production are community 
factors of vast significance to the church and every other 
institution of community life. Late in 1922 an official of one 
of the leading denominations of the Middle West reported 
that six members of the official board of one of the churches 
in the grain belt had taken advantage of bankruptcy laws. 
Surely no one will deny that the church is highly concerned 
with economic conditions when such evidence is available. 
The country church is challenged to assist in the co-operation 
which may be established between agricultural college, farm 
bureau, and other agricultural agencies whereby the economic 
life of the country may be improved. Even the selfish point 
of view should make the Protestant Church recognize that 
her very future is threatened by the increase of tenant farm- 
ing. The service of every agency is needed in the solution 
of this menacing problem. When it is realized that the 
element most needed in the solution is brotherliness in eco- 
nomic affairs, then it is seen that without the church or her 
message the solution is impossible.’’* 


WOMAN’S RIGHTS 


A great many of our country people have not caught the 
vision of convenient living. Many farmers spend large sums 
of money for costly machinery like the tractor, which they 
may do without, and fail to provide for some very inexpen- 
sive and simple conveniences for the home that will make 
living very much easier and more pleasant for the women 





*Roadman—‘The Country Church and Its Program,” p. 116. 


THE Newer Cart 103 


folks. Frequently it is the wife who becomes dissatisfied and 
induces her husband to move to the city. Some have thought 
it was Mrs. Lot who persuaded her husband to “pitch his 
tent toward Sodom,” where they might have some social 
advantages for the girls. The wife frequently becomes 
unhappy in the country because her situation is a hard one. 


“A husband and wife in the Middle West recently cele- 
brated their golden wedding anniversary. The neighbors 
congratulated them on their fifty happy years together. Yet 
during that time the man’s wife had walked, while carrying 
water into the house, as far as to Los Angeles and back. 
Take a paper and pencil and figure up the distance traveled 
by a woman carrying water into the house and you will find 
that not one but many farmers’ wives walk as far as from 
Saint Louis to Los Angeles and back during their married 
life, carrying a pail of water. A system of running water in 
the house would save all of such drudgery. About one out 
of every ten farmhouses now have running water.” 


“There are always those who object to improvements in 

the home. One man said, ‘My wife should get along with 
this house if my mother did.’ But they do not argue thus 
about the farm. One machine after another has been adopted 
for the purpose of saving labor. The scythe has given place 
to the mower. The self-binder has taken the place of the 
reaping hook. The big combination harvester that cuts and 
threshes the grain is a great contrast to the old cradle. The 
farmer rides when he plows. He digs potatoes with mach- 
inery. The wind or perhaps a gasoline engine pumps his 
water. The cows are sometimes milked by machinery. The 
horses pull the hay into the mow. A gasoline engine fills 
the silo. The farm buildings are arranged to save steps. 
The harness is hung behind the horses that wear it. The 
hay is stored above the stock that eats it. The silo is built 
adjoining the stable. The corn crib is next to the pigpen. 
Water is piped into the dairy barn. With the scarcity of 
farm help and the gradual shortening of the work day, labor- 
saving equipment is necessary on the farm. 


104 THe New CALL 


“But what about the labor-saving equipment inside the 
house? Someone says, ‘There aren’t as many labor-saving 
devices on the market for the house as there are for the 
farm.’ This would indicate that there hasn’t been a sale for 
them. Yet when we look around we find many such house- 
hold devices. There are the motor driven washer and 
wringer, which save much backbreaking labor. The vacuum 
cleaner is the housekeeper’s friend. A kitchen cabinet saves 
innumerable steps. Is running water more necessary in the 
dairy barn than in the house? A heating plant as well as 
a lighting system is found in the modern houses. Further- 
more, much of the labor-saving equipment of the house is 
inexpensive compared to farm machinery. A family can 
buy a dust mop, a pressure cooker, an electric iron, and a 
motor for the sewing machine all for less than half the cost 
of a mowing machine or a disc harrow. 


“Some one says, “The household equipment isn’t used as 
much of the year as farm machinery.’ A system of running 
water in the house would cost less than a tractor. Which is 
used more days in the year? A kitchen cabinet costs less 
than a mowing machine. Which is used more often? A 
house could be thoroughly equipped with every labor-saving 
device known for what it would cost to build a silo or buy a 
truck or a tractor. 


“After all, it is not a question of money or usability; it is 
simply a question of attitude. Are we fair? Are we con- 
siderate of others? Do we wish to make other lives easy and 
happy? Religion affects our home life. Here we are our 
real selves. An attitude of consideration and helpfulness for 
each member of our family is a better index of our religion 
than what we say in church. I would rather ask a man’s 
wife about his religion than his pastor.””* 


But what can a minister do about a situation like this with- 
out becoming offensive? It will be a good idea to invite the 
home demonstration agent to come to the community and put 
on a “Better Home” contest. They are willing to come and 





*Ralph Felton, ‘“The Christian and the Countryside,” pp. 37 and 41. 


THe New Catt 105 


grade the homes of the community this year and point out 
what can be done in order to make living more convenient 
in the country and to return the following year and grade 
the homes on their improvement. 


It is a matter of education. It is not that the country man 
does not love his wife and is not willing to provide these 
conveniences, but it is simply because he has never thought 
of it and has been willing to get along as his father and 
mother did. If the world is to have the right kind of leaders, 
the class of people who produce these leaders must not be 
depleted. If these stalwart country folk are to be kept 
satisfied in the country sections where they are the stay and 
support of the country church, their living conditions must 
be made convenient. 


HOW TO SPEND MONEY 


My grandfather used to say “A dollar saved is a dollar 
-made.” What country people need to learn in this age of 
extravagances is how to spend their money. There are too 
many people trying to get along with a buggy income on an 
automobile scale of expenditures. The U. S. Government 
in its Department Bulletin No. 1382, gives the relationship 
between the ability to pay and the standard of living among 
farmers. It gives a study of 861 white farm families of 
Kentucky, Tennessee and Texas. These farmers are selected 
from some of the very best sections of the South. 


“The localities chosen in Kentucky lay in Shelby, Mercer, 
Jessamine, Montgomery, Bourbon, Scott, Woodford, and 
Fayette Counties. Localities in Tennessee were confined to 
three counties—Madison, Montgomery, Williamson. Local- 
ities in Texas comprised ten counties in the “Black Prairie’ 
—Dallas, Bliss, Hill, Johnson, McLennan, Bell, Falls, Lime- 


106 Tue New Cau 


stone, Navarro and Williamson. Only a few schedules were 
obtained in Johnson, Limestone and Navarro Counties. 


“Of the 1,100 schedules obtained from all localities in the 
three states, only 861 were regarded as being sufficiently 
typical for use in this study. Approximately 150 schedules 
representing families of colored farmers are not included. 
About 75 schedules representing farms operated by single 
individuals or homes comprising persons of one sex were 
discarded from this study. A few others incomplete in some 
respect could not be used. 


“The types of farming represented by the several localities 
studied vary widely in some respects and are similar in other 
respects. All the localities from which data were obtained 
in Kentucky are typical of the famous bluegrass area, and 
tobacco is the principal money crop with the farmer.” 


The following tables will show not only the income of these 
farmers but also the average expenditure. 


“Average expenditures per family for the different groups 
of items for the year ended Dcember 31, 1919, as shown by 
value of materials furnished by the farm and the materials 
purchased. 861 farm families of selected localities of Ken- 
tucky, Tennessee and Texas.” 








ALL FAMILIES 861. OWNER FAMILIES 411 


Fur- Pur- Fur- Pur- 
ITEM nished chased Total nished chase Total 


Food, including groceries....... $383.80 $248.00 $ 631.80 $427.60 $ 224.30 $ 651.90 


Bit Page LE 8 vnc RO te A RR Ri SEI oP SMI 5 254.70 254.70 ............ 283.90 283.90 
Rent (10% value house)...... 137.90 2.00 139.90 184.90 40 185.30 
Furniture and furnishings.... ........... 28.50 28.50) Jee 33.40 33.40 
Operating expense... 14.90 158.00 172.90 18.60 192.30 210.90 
Maintenance of health... 2.0... 67.00 67.00.2225 75.00 75.00 
AAVaNnCenmient cee ee eer eee 84.30 S420 hase Sex 130.10 130.10 
Personal @ iit oceal eee nee eee 20 #8 16.70 16.90 029 16.90 17.10 
Insurance—life and health... .200000000.. 36.90 36:90 )4% 22-2 44.70 44.70 
Wnclassified ioe ee eee eae 3.10 OO Kee cues 2.70 2.70 


Fi eg VR Roe ON et 2 $536.80 $899.20 $1,436.00 $631.30 $1,003.70 $1,635.00 


Tue New Carr 107 








TENANT FamiI.ies 321, ‘Croprer Famixies 129 
Fur- Pur- Fur- Pur- 
ITEM nished chased Total nished chased Total 


Food, including groceries....... $387.00 $272.20 $ 659.20 $235.80 $263.80 $499.60 





MW UGSG ITS er EEE. oe Mek cence carpscke (i cosqnescas pe SO ORO 246.800. eee 181.10 181.19 
Rent (10% value house)...... 105.40 4.40 109.80 69.30 -80 70.10 
Furniture and furnishings.... ............ 26.60 26.607 2RoFs 17.70 17.70 
Operating ,expense.................. 11.20 147.90 159.10 13.00 73.20 86.20 
Maintenance of health..........0 ............ 66.50 G65 0" = 2 8 42.70 42.70 
aa a RSs Ue oy TAU A ee lene i lea re ane 3.50 BPS | aoe ae 3.30 3.30 
Pereomahenin gos 10 §= 18.20 18.30 30 12.50 12.80 
Insurance—life and health... ............ 36.90 36.9 0m 22.3: 12.20 12.20 
(CET, 2? eet Ae Ree ea ree 3.50 3.50 Ma eek 3.30 3.30 

OTA Leet te ees eee $503.70 $874.10 $1,377.80 $318.40 $628.50 $946.96 


EXPENDITURES AND GOODS USED 


TotaL EXPENDITURES FOR ALL PURPOSES 


THE AVERAGES OF ALL EXPENDITURES FOR 
Suva a BAe FAMILIES BY TENURE GROUPS ARE GIVEN 
ABOVE. The total value of goods used, $1,436, 37.4% or 
$536.80 were furnished by the farm and 62.6% were pro- 
vided by direct purchase. 


DISTRIBUTION OF THE AVERAGE EXPENDI- 
TURES AMONG THE VARIOUS GROUPS 
: OF ARTICLES USED 


The proportion that the average expenditure for each of 
the several groups of articles is of the total expenditures 
appears in table given below. These proportions are deter- 
mined from the average expenditures for the different groups 
of articles as given in the table above. 


108 THe New Catt 


Expenditures for food cover 44% of all expenditures for 
all purposes. Expenditures for clothing, constituting 17.7% 
of all expenditures, are about two-fifths as large as expendi- 
tures for food. Operating costs, comprising 12% of all ex- 
penditures, are less than one-third of the expenditures for 
food. About one-third the operating costs, $53.80 is for 
fuel, over one-fourth of which, $14.90 is furnished by the 
farm. Rental charge for use of the house is about one-fifth 
of the expenditures for food. Houses represented by this 
rental charge average 5.3 rooms in size, bathroom, pantry and 
closets excluded. Data on the number and percentage of the 
houses fitted with modern improvements of the various kinds 
are not available. Expenditure for furniture and furnish- 
ings purchased during the year of study are only 2% of all 
expenditures. These expenditures are about 6% of the in- 
ventory value of furniture and furnishings in the home for 
the year 1919. Expenditures for the maintenance of health 
are 4.7% of the total. Money spent for education, recrea- 
tion, benevolences, etc.—termed “‘advancement’”—amounts to 
almost 6% of all expenditures. Only 0.2% of all expendi- 
tures is for goods not readily classified. 


Distribution of average expenditures for classified items, 
including value of goods furnished by the farm and pur- 
chased for the year ended December 31, 1919, by 861 families 
of selected localities in Kentucky, Tennessee, and Texas. 





All Owner Tenant Cropper 

ITEM Families Families Families Families 
Number of Families: 861 411 321 129 

Food, ‘including. groceries ...-..-22..-24:..2 44.0% 39.9% 47.8% 52.8% 
Clothing arte ce ee eee Ae haces 17.7 17.4 17.9 19.1 
Rent (10% value of house)................----. 9.7 11.3 8.0 7.4 
Fernts titi pg eyes ece cceste tenet ce onan, eae eee 2.0 2.0 1.9 1.9 
Operating costs 22 coco srs cect earls 12.0 12.9 11.6 9.1 
Midintenance*of health —..<......4-2- 4.7 4.6 4.8 4.5 
A AVATICOMIOT tater e ntrenceens eearanen terce ee nereemtcaere ca 5.9 6.0 3.7 2.2 
Personal io eee ce re eee ee eee! 1.2 1.0 1.3 1.4 
Insurance—life and health....................--+0 2.6 2.7 2.7 1.3 


THe New Catu 109 


Averages of some factors or criteria considered as indica- 
tive of ability of farmers to pay; year ended December 31, 
1919, 861 farm homes of selected localities of Kentucky, 
Tennessee and Texas. 





All 
Item Farmers Owners Tenants Croppers 
Number of Farmers: 861 411 321 129 
Disposable net income -...............00--20ee-e-- $2,178.00 $2,429.00 $2,141.00 $1,422.00 
fol Ss Ry aos BNE bg ci Pde Rate ace eR NE 108.3 132.0 104.6 42.3 
Otel patsy Capital Der TAC sccecesece-t-nene 21,509.00 24.734.00 22,716.00 8,026.00 
Operator’s working capital ...................... 2,950.00 3,716.00 2,836.00 767.00 
CORT UTIRO POLE CLOO ee es op cncee cose cenkndarcons 2,947.00 3,327.00 3,108.00 1,346.00 
Index of diversity of farm enterprises... 2.6 2.9 2.4 1.9 
Net worth of the farmer.............-ssscss0 14,502.00 25,998.00 5,184.00 1,274.00 
Per centage of net worth obtained as 
CALI COUSEMEWCAlUL eer tte ce esate creneaee 17.0 22.1 12.0 12.9 
Percentage net worth obtained through 
net increase in value of land.............. 15.3 30.5 1.8 Afi 
Number of years since the farmer be- 
rn enis earning lif cee ee set ase 23.4 27.1 19.9 20.5 
Operator’s average annual rate of accu- 


EEL ET ge) 0 oS So, EE i Re es eae TE $673.00 $1,107.00 $357.00 $95.00 





Note that the figures upon which this data was based were 
secured at a time when farmers were more prosperous than 
they are now. Compare the large amounts spent for food 
and clothing and the small amount for “advancement” which 
includes all money for recreation, education, schools, 
churches, etc. If these farmers had been tithers the first ten 
per cent would have gone to the church for the building of 
the Kingdom of God. When we consider how much money 
is spent for soda water, candy, aimless automobile riding, 
etc., we are led to believe it is the business of the preacher to 
help educate his people in the right expenditures of money 
so that they may secure better results for themselves, their 
families and the community. People should be taught to 
save in order that they may serve. The man who gives a 
tithe has to calculate what his income is. He is also led to 


110 THe New Catt 


consider how he may distribute his income so as to secure the 
best results from his expenditures. A correct knowledge of 
the expenditures of a country community is an important 
asset for effective lessons on stewardship. The matter of 
prime consideration is the spiritual welfare of the farmer, 
but his life cannot be spiritually right while it is economically 
wrong. There isa necessity, not only for stewardship of life, 
but also of possession. 


QUESTIONS 


1. What is the relationship between profitable agriculture and a pros- 
perous country church? 

2. What are the causes of unprofitable agriculture, and what are the 
remedies ? 

3. How can the country preacher and the country agent be mutually 
helpful in serving the community ? 

4. How may country houses be made more convenient ? 


5. How can the farmer get better returns for his money? 


6. What special reasons are there for teaching farmers the principles 
of stewardship ? 


GHAP TiC ha 


COMMUNITY AGENCIES 


HERE are many agencies working in rural districts to 

promote community betterment. It is difficult to know 
just how the Church should relate itself to them. In the 
very nature of the divine intention the Church is unique 
among organizations. Every brotherhood, every organization 
except the Church is human in its origin and is temporal in 
its aims except as they have been inspired by the truths which 
are taught by the Church. The Church is God’s divinely 
instituted society. If it is to be effective it must be composed 
of people who are born again—who have had a religious ex- 
perience. The Church is spiritual in its functions, but it is 
necessary for the Church to rightly relate itself to every 
other agency that is working for the betterment of the human 
life. 

We are living in an age of great rural awakening. During 
the last forty years a multiplicity of country life agencies 
have come into being. The first agricultural experiment 
stations were established in 1887. The Department of Agri- 
culture in the United States was organized in 1889. In 1908 
President Roosevelt appointed the Country Life Commission. 
County Agents and Home Demonstration Agents are now at 
work in a great many counties all over America.* We 
have the Farmers’ Union, the Farm Bureau, Co-operative 
Buying Associations, Co-operative Selling Associations, etc. 
—all contributing to better rural conditions. What is the 
relation of the Church to all of these? Each state and almost 
each county has its sanitary agents. The public school system 
during the last forty-five years has improved tremendously. 





*2,100 counties have agricultural agents (men) and 900 have home demon- 
stration soos (women). ‘This service was established by the Smith-Lewis Act, 
ay 8, 14. 


112 THe New CAtu 


THE PREACHER AND THE PUBLIC SC RigtiG 


It used to be the policy of the country church to organize 
and conduct a school. When I became pastor of New Provi- 
dence Church, a parochial school had been conducted beside 
the church. It had performed a great service. I found in 
the nearby village a public school. I visited Rev.. A. H. 
Hamilton, D.D., the wise pastor of Mt. Carmel, and said 
to him, “What ought I to do? Shall I resurrect the parochial 
school, or cast my influence with the public school ?” 


He said, “My advice to you is to co-operate with the public 
school. If you continue the parochial, you will have two 
weak, struggling institutions and neither one of them very 
efficient. Only the better-to-do parents will be able to send 
their children where they will have to pay tuition. If you 
cast your influence with the public school, all the children of 
the community will have an equal chance and, if you are 
wise, you will be able to see that religious instruction is 
given.” 

God is placing upon the Church in this new age a great 
responsibility—to give instruction in the Bible and training 
in moral princples to the students of the schools which are © 
supported by the state. We recognize how delicate and diff- 
cult is the situation which arises where there is a constituency 
in a community which is not Protestant Christian. In the 
South there is unity and homogeneity of faith. Only two 
per cent of the entire rural population of the South is other 
than Protestant and evangelical in its sympathies. All the 
great denominations are getting closer together and it is 
very seldom that any antagonism arises between the Meth- 
odist, Baptist, and Presbyterian in the co-operative effort te 
give to the young people in the public schools instruction in 
the Bible and training in moral principles. The public school 


Tue New Catt 113 


becomes a great auxiliary to the church and the Church a 
benediction to the schools. 


THE PREACHER AND THE COUNTY AGENT 


Almost universally the various agencies of the State, such 
as its Extension Department, working through its county 
farm and home demonstration agents, will co-operate in a 
fine spirit of helpfulness with the Church for rural better- 
ment. These are among the very best allies that the country 
preacher has. The wise country pastor, who takes an interest 
in the temporal as well as the spiritual welfare of his people, 
will find himself thrust into a position of leadership and 
responsibility. Huis advice will be sought and he will be able 
to inculcate Christian principles and lofty ideals in the various 
organizations among the country people. He may be able to 
prevent them from adopting rash and selfish measures. He 
may be able to guide them in a way which will be for the 
intellectual, social, physical and spiritual uplift of the whole 
community. 

Farmers’ organizations should be not simply for commer- 
cial and financial advancement and protection, but should 
have the lofty aim of co-operating with everything that means 
community consciousness and community improvement. 
Leaders of the church become leaders in these organizations. 
There should be no antagonism in the actual working out of 
plans between the church and any other organization which is 
wisely guided. The minister, as a citizen, being a man of 
vision and a man of education, may be worth very much 
more in advancing the welfare of the community, than he re- 
ceives as a preacher. Instead of interfering with his efficiency 
as a preacher and spiritual adviser, it will give to him a cer- 
tain kind of contact which will greatly add to his influence. 


“In patterning after the Master, the church must seek to 
lose its life in an endeavor to serve and save the community 


114 THe New Cau 


in which it has its life. Whatever is of large significance to 
the community is of large significance to the church. It is 
not enough that the church shall diagnose ills and tell what is 
wrong. It must prescribe remedies and mark pathways 
toward the right. It must be a unifying agency among the 
discordant and rivaling interests. It must consider itself a 
member ex officio of every group and committee which is 
planning and laboring for community uplift—not to demand 
rights and consideration, but to assure co-operation. It 
must, by its assistance, aid in teaching the ignorant, making 
the unlovely lovable, renewing the broken in spirit, and in 
establishing justice. This can be done only by participation 
in concrete daily problems and incidents of community life. 

“The points at which communities break down are the 
points at which the church should render assistance—lIt is 
amid the difficulties and discouragements, the enmities and 
jealousies, the frauds and deceits of administering social rela- 
tions in these dominant interests that help must be given. 
Not one of these interests is above or below the dignity of 
the church; they are each and all of the greatest concern to 
the church. Her mission is to help people live after the 
pattern of Christ in every relationship.’”’* 


HEALTH 


A community may not be prosperous because of health 
conditions. It was a heroic deed of Dr. B. M. Palmer, of 
New Orleans, when he stayed with his people and nursed 
them and ministered to them during the yellow fever scourge. 
He took sick himself and was near to death’s door. But the 
minister who is able to get his community to adopt methods 
for prevention of diseases may render a greater service than 
by nursing the sick. 

A minister visited a home where there were thirteen chil- 
dren and noticed that they were pale and sickly. He had a 
talk with his physician and said, “I wish you would go and 
look those children over. I believe they have the hookworm.”’ 





*Roadman—‘‘The Country Church and Its Program,” pp. 113-4. 


THe New Catt 115 


The physician visited the family and found them infected. 
He gave the treatment and the children were soon well and 
strong. They have gone out into life as useful men and 
women, a blessing to the church and the community in which 
they live. The minister was never known in the transaction 
and yet he contributed to the saving of those children to 
society and the church. Without being known at all in the 
matter, a minister may encourage some of his people to invite 
a representative from the State Board of Health or have 
literature distributed which will teach the people how to pre- 
vent disease. 


“A pastor in Virginia said that the wealthiest farmer in 
his community thought that flies were healthful. 


““We need them,’ said the manager of this five-hundred- 
acre farm, ‘to eat up the filth.’ 


“This man simply did not know. When his pastor ar- 
ranged with the county health officer to speak in his church 
on ‘Flies as Disease Carriers,’ he woke up. The next day 
he went to town and loaded his car with screens for his house. 

He simply hadn’t understood the problem before. 

— “Health can be made safe even among the most unfavor- 
able circumstances, and no matter what health costs it is a 
good investment. The expenses of our annual death rate 
from preventable diseases in the United States, according to 
the Massachusetts Board of Health, are enough to build in 
each state twenty hospitals, eight colleges, one hundred 
libraries, and, in addition, build two transcontinental high- 
ways and then have enough left to increase our appropria- 
tions one hundred million dollars to our public schools. 

“These statements seem exaggerated until we examine a 
few communities. An experiment was made in Arkansas to 
rid four towns of malaria. Pools were drained or filled, 
sluggish streams were ditched. Oul was applied to surface 
water. The breeding places of the mosquito were done away 
with; thus one cause of the malaria was eliminated. In 
1916, before the experiment, the number of calls made by 
physicians in one of these Arkansas towns—Hamburg—on 


116 THe New Catri 


patients suffering from malaria was 2,312. In 1917, the year 
the experiment was made, the calls dropped to 259, and 1918 
to 59. 

“What did health cost in this instance? In this town of 
only a little more than a thousand population the cost of this 
experiment to each person was in 1917 only $1.45 and it 
dropped in 1918 to 44 cents. 


“In an Arkansas lumber town in Ashley County the local 
physicians estimated that sixty per cent of all illness was due 
to malaria. The mosquito was eliminated by ridding the 
place of all stagnant water. Within one year the malaria in 
this town decreased seventy-two per cent. The cost per 
capita for this work was $1.24, and each person saved more 
than thirty dollars on doctor bills and the loss of time from 
work due to sickness. Health is a good investment.”* __ 

It is the business of the church and the minister to look 
after the sick, but it is a greater business to teach the people 
how to keep from getting sick and to bring about, through 
the activity of the people themselves, sanitary conditions 
which will promote the life and happiness of the community. 


CALTINGST AE DOCTOR 


Statistics show that good country doctors are getting very 
scarce. In fact, there are a number of counties in the south- 
ern and western states which have no country doctor. Are 
days of the old country doctor over? When there is an 
opening for a physician in the country, frequently a man who 
has failed in the town or city because of intemperate habits 
or because he is a drug addict will come and settle down on 
a country community and it is at his mercy. 

One rural community calls its physician just as it does 
its minister. When it loses its doctor a committee is ap- 
pointed and this committee investigates every applicant for 
the position. If his testimonials are not satisfactory, he is 


*Ralph Felton—‘‘The Christian and the Countryside,” p. 29. 


THe New Catt Li 


given to understand that he is not wanted. This community, 
through the agency of this committee, has secured a com- 
petent Christian physician whose life and services are not 
only a great blessing to the whole countryside because of 
efficient professional services, but because of personal work, 
leading the people to Christ. A Christian physician is one 
of the greatest assets that the minister can have in the work 
of a country church. 

The Board of Deacons, or a committee composed of the 
representatives of this Board, may be the Social Service 
Committee of the community. If this Board is properly 
organized, as has been suggested in a former chapter, it 
should function in fostering social service. 


WHO IS MY NEIGHBOR? 


“And Jesus answering said, ‘A certain man went down 
from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, which 
stripped him of his raiment, and wounded him, and departed, 
leaving him half dead. And by chance there came down a 
certain priest that way; and when he saw him, he passed by 
on the other side. And likewise a Levite, when he was at 
the place, came and looked on him, and passed by on the other 
side. But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where 
he was: and when he saw him, he had compassion on him, 
And went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring in oil 
and wine, and set him on his own beast and brought him to 
an inn, and took care of him. And on the morrow when he 
departed, he took out two pence, and gave them to the host, 
and said unto him, “Take care of him; and whatsoever thou 
spendest more, when I come again, I will repay thee’.’’* 


A preacher may feel he is too busy preaching the Gospel 
and attending to church matters to occupy himself in the 
matters of social service. Doubtless the priest who went 
down from Jerusalem to Jericho had an engagement in 
Jericho and felt he did not have time to look after the man 


*Luke 10:30-35. 


118 THe New CAtLt 


who had fallen among thieves. Sometimes the elders and 
deacons feel that they have so many pressing duties in carry- 
ing on the work of the church and other matters that they 
have no time to do some of the things which seem to them 
of lesser importance. No doubt this was true of the Levite 
that day. He probably wanted to help the poor fellow, but 
he had other pressing duties and did not have time. The 
Church has frequently passed by on the other side and the 
need is sometimes not met at all. Some times another agency 
like the Odd Fellows, the Masons, the Knights of Phythias, 
or some outside organization has stepped in and accomplished 
the task that God, in His divine plan meant the Church to 
perform. I can imagine that priest, after the man who had 
fallen among thieves had become rather prosperous, ap- 
proaching him as a preacher with a view of getting him into 
the church, or I can imagine that Levite, who would cor- 
respond to our elder or deacon, being interested in him and 
probably speaking to him about uniting with the church and 
helping it along. It is probable that if they did the language 
which he used in response would not be fit to print, or, if he 
did not say anything, his thoughts would not be of a kindly 
nature. 


A MODERN PARABLE 


“A tenant farmer was sick and weary. The weeds were 
taking his crops. The future looked dark for him. 

“A representative of the missionary board of his church 
came by, made a survey, took some pictures, prepared a re- 
port, and hastily returned to headquarters. 

“A high official of the church learned with regret of the 
man’s misfortune and. sent him a copy of his latest book on, 
“The Common Fellowship of Sorrow!’ 

“The local pastor heard of the tenant’s plight from his 
landlord, with whom he was spending the day. The landlord 
was concerned for his neglected fields. The pastor’s heart 
was touched. He wondered why he hadn’t called on the 


THe New CatLyu 119 


sick man long before. The next day he plowed the man’s 
corn. His wife came too and touched with hope and love 
the sick household. The next day a nurse was brought. The 
pastor persuaded the landlord to have the house screened. 
He kept other members of the family from the fever. The 
worn and weary wife shed tears of gratitude and joy. But 
the oldest daughter was unmoved and bitter, saying in her 
heart with resentment, ‘If thou hadst come earlier, my father 
would not have taken sick’,’”’* 

The Church of Jesus Christ is a brotherhood if rightly 


constituted. Jesus went about doing good. He came that 
we might have life and have it more abundantly. He healed 
the sick; he ministered to man. That minister is greatest, 
that church officer is greatest, that church most completely 
fulfills its mission when they all follow in the steps of Him 
who came “not to be ministered unto but to minister.’ Jesus 
appeared first to Mary Magdalene. He appeared to her 
probably because there was no one else in the world who 
felt the need of Him more than she. He had lifted her up 
from a life of despair. When she lost Him, she lost her all. 
So, wherever there is need, the Church, following the ex- 
ample of her Master, should do what it can to meet that need. 


DISCUSSIONS 


It is a very good idea to have meetings in the community, 
either at the church or school house, where the people, under 
the auspices of some organization such as the Community 
League, Farm Bureau, or Farmers’ Union may have a dis- 
cussion on some particular subject concerning the community. 
Always have a specialist on the subject assigned to lead the 
discussion. For instance, if the subject of sanitation were 
used, a doctor, or nurse, or representative of the Board of 
Health should be invited. Another time it might be the 
subject of law and order. If the prosecuting attorney is a 


*Ralph Felton—‘‘The Christian and the Countryside,” p. 35. 


120 THe New CAatLu 


Christian, he could be called upon to lead the discussion, or 
it might be possible to secure someone else who is specially 
interested in this field of service. Again it may be the subject 
of education or recreation. Country people are interested 
in things of this kind and when their attention is once called 
to the problems that confront them and their interest is en- 
listed, the minister can count on their hearty co-operation in 
solving the problems. 


LAW ENFORCEMENT 


The preacher is not an officer of the law. It is not his 
business to see that the law is executed but he may so in- 
fluence the community that it will co-operate with organiza- 
tions of law and order in such a way that laws will be re- 
verenced, enforced and obeyed. It may be necessary for the 
country preacher to be the inspirational agent but it is not 
best for him to be too prominent. 

The country preacher, because of the smallness of his com- 
munity and the scattered population, because of the consti- 
tuency and environment of his congregation, is called upon 
to form these contacts and associations with other agencies in 
a way that is not the province of the minister in the town or 
city church. 


QUESTIONS 


1. Give a list of agencies which are working for rural betterment in 
your county. 

2. How should the country preacher co-operate with the county 
agent? 

3. What are the country preacher’s duties to the public school? 

4. How can the country preacher help maintain health in his com- 
munity ? 

5. How can the country preacher promote law enforcement? 


CHAPTER XII 
EVANGELISM IN THE COUNTRY 


HILE the Church should promote social life, its 

first business is to lead men to Christ—to know 
Christ and to make Him known. The obligation is world 
wide, Acts 1:8, “But ye shall receive power, after that the 
Holy Ghost is come upon you; and ye shall be witnesses unto 
me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria and 
unto the uttermost part of the earth.’ The duty of the 
Church is to the whole world but every congregation has its 
first obligation to the community in which it is located. If 
the minister and his officers have properly discovered their 
field, and have a list of all classes they will know just exactly 
what their evangelistic opportunities and obligations are with- 
in the bounds of their own congregation. The Church should 
assume as a duty the reaching of every man, woman and 
_ child who is out of Christ. 


The agencies for evangelization are, first, the fathers and 
mothers. A thorough campaign should be carried on con- 
tinually with the parents. They should be led to feel that 
God, when He gave into their keeping their children, placed 
a responsibility upon them which can not be shifted anywhere 
else. Parents should be taught to realize that, when they 
dedicate their children to God, they take upon themselves 
certain obligations to bring them up as Christians with the 
expectation that when they come to the years of account- 
ability, they will confirm by their own personal faith what 
the parents have assumed for them in their childhood. 

Parents should be impressed with the fact that it is by daily 
Bible instruction, by setting before their children the right 
kind of an example, they are so to train them that they will 


122 THe New CAa.Lu 


become Christian men and women. We have been stressing 
the other agencies of the church so much that parents are 
sometimes inclined to believe that they have been relieved of 
the obligations which God placed upon them. Children may 
be under the influence of their Sunday school teacher one 
or two hours per week, They are under the direction of their 
parents practically all the time. 


Fathers have just as great a responsibility as the mothers. 
While the mother’s influence may be more potential during 
a certain period of the early years of childhood, there comes 
a time when the father’s influence and the father’s example 
is even more potent than that of the mother. 


A second great agency for evangelism is the Sunday school. 
We think of the Sunday school as the agency for religious 
education but training in religious education and evangelism 
must go hand in hand. Evangelism which is not preceded 
and followed by Christian training will not make a strong, 
virile Christianity. 

If the parents faithfully perform their duties, the work of 
the Sunday school will not be so essential. But after all is 
done, many parents fall short in their duties to their children, 
therefore the church, through the agency of the Sunday ~ 
school, must take up the task which the parents have failed 
to perform. The Sunday school becomes a great auxiliary 
even to the Christian home. Things can be accomplished for 
children in groups that can not be done for them as indivi- 
duals. A Sunday school teacher, who is consecrated to the 
task, who lives before the children a godly life, frequently 
becomes the most powerful agency for bringing the youth to 
Christ that the church has at her command. The whole 
content of the teaching in the Sunday school should be with 
a view to bringing its members to Christ and instructing 
them in the duties and privileges of discipleship. 


THe New Catu 123 


The church officers constitute another great agency for 
evangelism. It is the duty of each elder to watch for souls 
in his district. No elder should be content to have any man, 
woman, or child living in any of the families under his special 
charge who has not been led to Jesus Christ, whom to know 
aright is life eternal. 


The Christian Endeavor, or Young People’s Organization, 
the Woman’s Society, the Men of the Church, should all be 
organized and trained in the work of evangelism. 

A preacher whose people are to be personal workers must 
emulate the Master and set the example. 


Every church should have decision days. In the country 
church the congregation should be taught to look upon Com- 
munion service as a decision season. If a quarterly Com- 
munion passes without somebody giving his heart to Christ, 
the minister and his officers, who are responsible for the 
development of the spiritual life of the church, should take 
an inventory of their own lives and the performance of their 
duties to see if there is not some lack or some failure on their 
part. 


Some evangelistic meetings do more harm than good. 
They are accompanied with excitement and people are re- 
ceived into the church without having any real religious ex- 
perience and without an understanding of the principles of 
Christian living. Yet each church ought to have at least one 
evangelistic meeting each year. Some particular time should 
be set aside when the farmers are most at leisure, and they 
should be taught to keep this time sacred and free from all 
other engagements of business or pleasure. A _ spiritual 
every-member canvass ought.to be made just before this 
meeting in order that the information may be in hand show- 
ing the congregation what its evangelistic task is. Sometimes 
the pastor may do his own preaching, or he may secure the 


124 THe New CAtu 


assistance of a neighboring pastor. Sometimes he should call 
in a specially trained evangelist. 

The success of the meeting depends largely upon the pre- 
paration, the spirit of prayer in the congregation, the amount 
of personal work that is done, and the faithfulness in re- 
ligious training on the part of the parents and Sunday school 
teachers. Its final results will depend upon the faithfulness 
with which the evangelistic meeting is followed up by the 
minister and the various organized agencies of the church. 


Many country churches depend solely upon the evangelistic 
meeting. That is about all the life of the church amounts to. 
Some man from town goes out and holds a meeting. Under 
the high pressure method a number of people come forward, 
shake his hand and join the church. That is the sum total 
of the meeting. It is extremely essential that the country 
church, because of its lack of organized life, should project 
an all year round, sane, scriptural, efficient evangelistic pro- 
gram. Evangelism is more than a revival meeting. 


The most important agency in evangelism is the weekly 
sermon by the right kind of a preacher. 


“Without an evangelistic pastor in the pulpit, lay evan- . 
gelism on the part of the pew is an impossibility. The pastor 
must accept responsibility to light and fan the flame of evan- 
gelism in the Church,’’* 


very preacher should be evangelistic in his message. He 
should preach with the expectation of seeing his people saved. 
It is said that Dr. George W. Truett, of Texas, has converts 
at every service. This does not mean that a man is to preach 
all the time what is known as “evangelistic sermons,” but 
there ought to be an evangelistic note in his preaching and 
every sermon ought to carry a message of salvation. The 


*Rolvix Harlan—‘‘A New Day for the Country Church,” p. 60. 


THE New Catt 125 


whole program of worship should be shot through with the 
spirit of evangelism. 


In the country congregation a considerable number of un- 
converted are usually present. The evangelistic note should 
dominate the message, not only in order that these may be 
reached, but also that the members may be given the spirit. 
A real gospel sermon preached by a man who believes his 
message will keep even the country man awake. The Gospel 
is good news. It is mentioned one hundred and two times 
in the New Testament. 


It is the business of the newspapers to publish news. Much 
of it is news because it is bad. It is interesting because it is 
shocking. Some news is bad to some people and good to 
others. When an officer of the law is shot down in the 
execution of his duties, it is bad news to every right-thinking 
citizen, but good news to the violators of the law and those 
who sympathize with them. 


_ It is the business of the Church to publish good news. 

The Gospel is good news to all. The angel proclaimed to the 
shepherds who watched their flocks in the fields of Beth- 
lehem, “Behold I bring you good tidings of great joy which 
shall be to all people.” 


The country minister will preach to a larger per cent of 
the unconverted than the average city man. To the lost sin- 
ner the Gospel is good news because it tells of One mighty 
to save. 


He will preach to men who have many problems and per- 
plexities ; men who are pressed by sore trials. To the tempted 
and tested the Gospel is good news, for it reveals a great 
Deliverer. To the discouraged it is good news, for it brings 
a message of hope and cheer. To the sorrowing it is good 
news, for it tells of a God of comfort and consolation. 


126 Tue New CAaLu 


The country men, with their broad sympathies, are much 
moved by the death of a neighbor or friend... Witness the. 
great concourse who attend with real grief the country 
funeral. The country man thinks much on death and the 
man on the farm, who does not have the hope of glory as 
revealed in Christ, is filled with gloomy forebodings. But 
the Gospel is the glad story of the Saviour who has brought 
life and immortality to light. It is He, “Who hath saved us 
and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, 
but according to His own purpose and grace, which was given 
us in Christ Jesus before the world began, But is now made 
manifest by the appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ, who 
hath abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality 
to light through the Gospel.”’* 

In the light of this glad news, death is but the bursting of 
the bud to bloom in a flower of perpetual fragrance. It is 
but the opening of the door that leads from the vestibule 
into a cathedral of endless beauty; it is but the brief uncon- 
scious moment when the faultless surgeon opens blinded eyes 
and unstops deaf ears; it is but the alchemy of the great 
Physician by which decrepit age is transformed into immortal 
youth, and frail, diseased bodies are exchanged for those that — 
are strong and beautiful, pulsating with perpetual health. 


To the farmer, weary from his week’s toil, troubled, per- 
plexed by crop failures and financial reverses, many of them 
burdened with debt; to those men with their temptations and 
their trials, and their gloomy forebodings about the future, 
it is the glorious privilege of the country preacher to proclaim 
this Gospel of salvation and of hope. We can say with Paul, 
“Thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our 
Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye 
stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the 


AL ime t29*1.0" 


THe New Catu 127 


Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain 
in the Lord.’’* 


There is no satisfactory solution for the problems of the 
country church other than the Gospel preached by a spirit 
filled and sacrificial ministry, amply trained and definitely 
consecrated to the task. It must be the Gospel of the throne 
and of the altar—the glory of God and His grace through 
Jesus Christ. 


QUESTIONS 


1. Construct in your own way an evangelistic program for the coun- 
try congregation. 
2. What are the principal agencies in a program of evangelism? 


3. Tell what you would do to secure the co-operation of the agencies 
of the congregation in the work of evangelism. 
4. What is the gospel and why should the country minister preach it? 


eT Conta /-05. 


CHAPTER XIII 


DIS COVE RX NORCO GIN TRG 
LEADERSHIP 


N important task that lies within the range of a coun- 

try minister’s duties is the discovery and training of 
leadership. We constantly hear both preachers and other 
church leaders saying, “All the best people have moved away 
from our community. We have no leaders left.” 

Country people are potential in the qualities that make for 
leadership. From early childhood they are trained in self- 
reliance, integrity, initiative, industry and resourcefulness ; 
but, because of the individualistic, deliberate and conservative 
character of those who dwell in the country, the qualities of 
leadership often lie dormant and undeveloped. The World 
War demonstrated what can be done when the people of the 
rural sections have a real challenge. 


“Tt is not the lack of talent and capacity which threatens 
the church in any community. The factors which threaten 
are the lack of vision to see the possible achievements if 
talent is aroused, and the lack of a plan and program of train- 
ing whereby this talent can be made effective. : 

The church must learn to trust its own member- 
ship and constituency in the same way that the government 
trusted community workers in selling war bonds. One pastor 
conducted an educational service which is a fine example of 
using potential leadership in the parish. He was earnestly 
seeking to increase the number of high-school seniors who 
would plan for college. He secured two persons who had 
been out of college about fifteen years to speak on the subject, 
‘Why I Am Glad I Went to College.’ Two young people 
still in college spoke on ‘Why I Am Glad I Am In College.’ 
Two high school seniors told, ‘Why I Am Planning to Go to 
College’.”"* 


*Roadman—“‘The Country Church and Its Program,” p. 135-6. 


THe New Catt 129 


Few farmers learn to think on their feet. They do not 
express themselves readily. Though the country church offi- 
cer may think a great deal, he usually is as mum as an oyster 
at a meeting. ‘There are few country Presbyterian elders 
who will lead public worship in their church. 


One of the reasons for the growth of the Methodists in the 
early days of American history was that the class leaders 
gathered the people in the community for a religious service 
every Sunday. It was often of a crude nature but it was of 
a character that kept the people together in the business of 
serving the Lord, and it developed real leadership among our 
pioneer peoples that had much to do with making our nation 
great. 


The Church of the Brethren seems to have fitted the neces- 
sities of many rural communities. This church has laid upon 
its farmer preachers the responsibility of local religious 
leadership. 


Of all the denominations the Baptists have probably been 
most successful in country districts in the South, and, as has 
been mentioned, 8814 % of their churches are in the country. 
Their democratic form of government with Saturday congre- 
gational meetings stimulates expression, and the fact that 
they have a large number of farmer preachers has developed 
rural leadership. 


The opportunity of the church in the country is to discover 
and train a leadership among its young people. When the 
pastor has discovered his field through the survey and follow- 
up work, and through faithful pastoral visiting as well as 
individual study of the young life in his parish, he has accom- 
plished some of the essential things. 


130 THe New Carri 


THE EXAMPLE 


Jesus gave three years of His ministry to the training of 
twelve men. This should be a challenge to every minister in 
dealing with youth. 


“Jesus’ leadership training work was done within the 
boundaries of what may be termed His own community. It 
was from here He chose and sent out the seventy. It was 
from here he selected and trained the twelve.” 

“A careful study of Jesus’ example and method leads one 
to believe that He could have selected His apostolic group 
from any community. Certainly the church can do more than 
it has done in every local field. Its most important task is 
the personal calling out of its individual and latent talent, 
thus setting in motion those forces which above all will pro- 
duce Christian leadership for the solution of its own problems 
and also those beyond its confines.’’* 


If young men are given adequate training in a properly 
organized Sunday school and Christian Endeavor society, the 
church in the country will not lack material for officers. If 
they are regenerate and are trained by impression and ex- 
pression, the country church of tomorrow will have a com- 
petent leadership. 


THE EAGERNESS OF YOUTH 


“There is no more certain social force than the idealistic 
hunger of each generation of young men and women. Youth 
is synonymous with the power of a glowing vision. It has 
no power not to respond. Here is something to count on, to 
tie to. ‘Its going forth is sure as the morning.’ Like the 
widow’s cruse of oil, it does not fail. Nothing which pertains 
to man is more beautiful or more dramatic than the great 
procession of young lives, a fair proportion of whom are 
always eager to devote themselves to altruistic adventure if 
the call comes timely and clear. There is no more marked 


*Roadman—“The Country Church and Its Program,” pp. 138-9. 


Tue New Catt | 131 


nor heartening aspect of American civilization than this. The 
only question is of the specific direction of these self-devoted 
lives. Of them the little town furnished a disproportionate 
share.. They have gone forth mostly to far fields, to the 
social service of the city, to foreign missions. To such this 
book would like to believe that it presents a direct challenge 
and appeal. Home is the nearest spot of missionary ground. 
The little town is a field for altruistic service of thrilling 
importance. Here stands greatness humbly clad; here 
patriotic labor is involved with charm; here deep social pro- 
cesses are bound up with intimate personal contacts; here 
especially the high fortunes of the open country are to be 
centered and inspired; here lies the pleasant middle ground 
through which, if one will have it so, the Garden of Eden 
merges into the City of God.”* 


SOMETHING TO DO 


There should, however, always be something doing in the 
life of the country church to occupy the thoughts and ener- 
gies of the youth. There should be constantly kept before 
the young people the fact that they must train for the leader- 
ship of the church of the future. They are taught in the 
schools that they are training for life, but the ideals which 
are sometimes held before them are crass and materialistic. 
The minister should challenge them with opportunity for 
leadership in the church. He should guide them in service 
for God and humanity. 


Some of the agencies which may be used for the training 
of leadership are the Sunday school with its organized de- 
partments and classes, the teacher training classes, the Daily 
Vacation Bible School, the Christian Endeavor societies, or 
other young people’s organizations, the Boy Scouts, Camp 
Fire Girls, Summer Bible Conferences, pageants, recreational 
activities, musical societies, clubs, etc. It is not wise to over- 


*H. P. Douglas—‘‘The Little Town,” pp. 243-44. 


132 Tee NEw? CAEL 


organize any church or to have too many services. Wise 
selections must be made and these worked intensively. Lan- 
guishing societies are a curse. 

A student writes : 


“All young people want something to do. The wise church 
recognizes this and will supply this need, giving them a 
special task. Especially to the college crowd is this necessary. 
If there is no place or work for them when they return from 
school, they will stay away from the church. One thing they 
can do, and will love to do, is to get up pageants and drama- 
tizations of all kinds. These are not only good for the young 
people, but also for the older generation, as pageants teach 
truths in a peculiar way not easily forgotten. Also study 
classes should be started for the young people.” . 


SUNDAY SCHOOL AND CHRISTIAN ENDEAVOR* 


The two most important agencies for the discovery and. 
training of leadership are the Sunday school and the Chris- 
tian Endeavor Society. Every country church, unless the 
Sunday school is organized so as to develop the expressional 
life of its youth, should have the Christian Endeavor Society. 
My observation has been that persons who have been trained 
in Christian Endeavor work are efficient in church leader- 
ship. The Christian Endeavor has an adequate literature and 
a perfected organization that has justified itself in the eyes 
of many whose judgment cannot be ignored. It is of interest 
to have the young people discuss this question themselves. 
They have some very decided notions as to the relative value 
of the Sunday school, the Christian Endeavor and other or- 
ganizations. The following is a testimonial from one who 
sees great possibilities in an up-to-date, properly developed 
Sunday school: 


*The author uses the term ‘‘Christian Endeavor’’ because he is familiar with 
that organization. There are many other societies of similar nature, such as the 

. Y. P. U., the Epworth League, Lutheran League, etc., which function much as 
Christian Endeavor. 


THe New Caty 133 


“The Sunday school is enlarging its program more and 
more in order to provide for expression as well as impression. 
The organized Sunday school class, if it has its work planned 
on a well-rounded basis, can take the place of the Christian 
Endeavor Society and do away with many of its defects. 


“The young people’s department of the Sunday school can 
meet in the morning for worship, instruction, and some ex- 
pression, and again meet as a department for worship, ex- 
pression, and some instruction at night. There is not time 
for every phase of work in one hour in the morning, nor yet 
in the two hours on Sunday, including night service. There 
should be through-the-week meetings, weekly, bi-monthly, or 
monthly, for recreation and sociability among the young peo- 
ple. The program of all these meetings should be planned 
not to overlap nor leave gaps. 


“Tf the young people’s organizations are thus brought into 
one, there will not be that divided loyalty which is the danger 
in Christian Endeavor societies. A logical and coherent pro- 
gram will be assured under adult counsel. There can be 
more denominational education which counts in its develop- 
ment of the Church for Christ.” 


The following is a discussion by an A. M. graduate of 
Johns Hopkins University : 


“Christian Endeavor and kindred organizations have cer- 
tain advantages. Christian Endeavor has a worth-while 
history of interesting achievements. It has helped develop 
valuable characters in Christian work. It has a workable 
program and an adequate organization for putting this pro- 
gram into effect. It has a valuable scheme of co-operative 
unions in district, State, nation and the world. It is adapt- 
able to churches of all sizes and young people of all ages. 


“It is a question whether the same loyalty can be chal- 
lenged by a denominational as by an interdenominational or- 
ganization. I believe, however, that with the present system 
of young people’s activities being worked out and with the 
program being prepared by Sunday school authorities, there 
will be a stronger appeal than is made by Christian Endeavor, 


134 THe New Cau 


and that it will produce a more intelligent, better grounded 
and stronger Christian character.” 


Some of the young people do not agree with the sentiments 
expressed above. One says: 


“T don’t know how others feel, but I felt that the Sunday 
school class to which I belonged was my teacher’s class, and 
I did not feel quite free to say what I thought. I was satis- 
fied to sit still and listen. But in Christian Endeavor meet- 
ing I felt that it was my meeting, and always felt free to 
speak and take part whenever asked. For the young people’s 
standpoint there is necessity for Christian Endeavor. The 
Sunday school is also necessary.” 


Another thoughtful student says: 


“A Christian Endeavor, or similar organization, is neces- 
sary to provide expressional activity. The program can be 
so linked with that of the church as to cause no overlapping, 
but rather offer a complementary or unified program. The 
training received here in expressional activity can find no 
substitute. The service rendered to the church and com- 
munity is invaluable in itself and in its benefit to those who 
participate.” 

Every country preacher should make a detailed and per- 
sonal study of his young people. He should lead them out 
into new tasks. Many a man has been led into the ministry 
by being asked to lead a religious meeting. Dr. Theodore 
Cuyler was a law student. He was sent one night to make 
a short talk in a prayer meeting. As he passed out of the 
door some one said to him, “You have helped me tonight.” 
The thought came to him, “If I have helped one soul by a 
ten minutes talk, what might I do by a lifetime given to 
preaching the Gospel?” Few men have given better proof 
of their ministry. 

We should ask our young people to do things and encour- 
age our religious leaders to assign them definite tasks. Re- 


Tae New: Cary 135 


cently I visited Roberts congregation in South Carolina. I 
found there a wide-awake, live Sunday school in this half- 
time country church. I think the secret was that the young 
people had a leading part. Both the superintendent and 
secretary were young men. 

‘When some service is rendered by youth, a judicious word 
of praise will encourage. They are often timid and under- 
estimate their ability. 

Every country preacher should see that some of the youth 
of his church attend Young People’s Conferences each sum- 
mer. No agency is performing a finer service in the matter 
of the developing of leadership than these conferences. Not 
only those who attend are developed, but, on their return to 
the home churches, they help develop leadership in others. 
The greatest benefit from these meetings is felt by the young 
people from country churches. They have not had the oppor- 
tunities of others. They have not been challenged as have the 
youth of city churches. 


“Stability and growth have been inaugurated where popu- 
lations were scattered and resources undeveloped. The coun- 
try church stands today among the people who still live amid 
such conditions of stability and growth. Around her are 
people who are silent but strong, unchallenged but capable, 
undemonstrative but deeply spiritual. Around her are youth 
who are backward but clean, uncouth but teachable, un- 
aroused but ready for greater things. Let the country church 
arouse, challenge, and direct the unfolding of this life which 
is about her, and her work shall be done, her task com- 
pleted.’”* 


AL PASE 


It matters not so much what agency the preacher uses. It 
matters not so much what be his methods. Common sense 
sanctified by prayer and guided by the Holy Spirit will dic- 


*Roadman—“The Country Church and Its Program,” p. 142. 


136 THe New Cau 


tate the agency and method best suited and most practical 
for the conditions under which he is working. The impor- 
tant thing is that he set himself to the task. The object is 
to develop young people along the same lines that Jesus grew, 
“And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favour 
with God and man.” The preacher should develop his young 
people physically, intellectually, socially and spiritually. 


QUESTIONS 


1. Why is it essential that a country preacher discover and develop 
leadership among his people? 

2. Construct in your own way a program for the development of 
leadership in the country church. 

3. Construct a program for the activities of the Christian Endeavor 
Society in the country church. 

4. What is your estimate of the value of young people’s conferences 
in the development of leadership ? 

5. In what four ways should the country preacher develop the youth 
of his congregation? 


CHAPTER XIV 


RURAL RECREATION 


VERY country church should provide in some way for 
the social and recreational life of its young people. 
One of the curses of this modern day is the resorting of the 
young people to town and city for their amusements and 
pleasures. City young people of the better class are inclined 
to consider the country young people as rustics, and there- 
fore the contacts of the young people of the country with 
those in the town are usually not helpful or elevating, for it 
is frequently with the lower class of urban young folks that 
they fellowship. It is very much better for the young people 
of the country to find their recreational and social life with 
the rural school or the country church as the center. If the 
church does not have an adequate equipment of its own, it 
should.co-operate with the school. 
In fifteen years there have been 1,948 rural schools in 
_ Virginia closed, but that does not mean we have poorer school 
facilities—rather better, for we now have in community cen- 
ters all over Virginia and all over the South well-equipped 
high school buildings. Consolidation has been the process. 
In the same fifteen years, school buildings have increased in 
value from $8,000,000 to $50,000,000. These modern, up-to- 
date school buildings can be used, if the church and school 
will co-operate, as community centers, and thus adequate 
recreational life should be provided. 


BOGIAT  LONGINGS 


God created us social beings and young people have social 
requirements. If the church does not provide the means of 
securing these necessities of young life, youth will seek them 


138 Tue New Catt 


in other places. It is frequently through the social contacts 
that they come under the power of degrading influences. 

A young minister who has had ‘successful experience in 
the country church writes: 


“One of the greatest needs of our rural districts today is 
clean, wholesome recreational life for our young people. The 
church with her social program should meet these needs. For 
the junior boys and girls nothing can beat the Boy Scouts and 
the Girl Scouts. I believe this idea can be worked in the 
country, if the pastor will pick out of his congregation young 
men and young women who will be willing to devote their 
time to the making of men and women. The pastor must 
lay the making of men and women on the hearts of his peo- 
ple. As for the older group of young people, the church 
must also provide and guide their amusements. The Sunday 
school and the Christian Endeavor, or Young People’s So- 
ciety, are the most effective organizations to use in this way. 
We have them, why not use them to develop the social life of 
the young people as well as their spiritual?” 

“The Methodist Church, through her General Conference 
of 1920, made the following enlightening and hopeful state- 
ment: “While we are aware that improper amusements are a 
fruitful source of spiritual decline, we also believe that the 
social and recreational instinct is God-given and, if properly 
guided, will strengthen rather than injure the spiritual life. 
The church must no longer allow her youth to ‘go into near- 
by villages and buy themselves the victuals of social life,’ 
but, rather, should say, ‘Sit down, and eat of the clean, 
wholesome things provided by the church, which seeks to 
build a social and recreational life that is spiritual, and a 
spiritual life that is social and recreational.’ The General 
Conference of 1924 strengthened this appeal by directing the 
Board of Temperance, Prohibition and Public Morals to ig 
mote a campaign of education in this direction.’’* 


Young people want to do things for themselves, and it is 
never wise to seem to try to dictate just how they should 
express themselves in their recreational life. They need 


*Roadman—“The Country Church and Its Program,” p. 104. 


THe New Catt 139 


encouragement. They should have wise, tactful guidance and 
supervision. In these days of automobiles the country church 
must do all it can to keep its young people from running to 
town. It will not only be money saved, but it will mean the 
saving of souls. Urban contacts are bad for rural youth. 
The young people’s societies should be encouraged to put on 
socials as frequently as possible and adequate quarters either 
in the church or schoolhouse should be provided. 


THE NEW FREEDOM 


This is an age of great danger to young people. They have 
not only torn off the mask, but thrown it away. Convention- 
alities which were prevalent a generation ago no longer exist. 
It is therefore very necessary that our young people have 
social contacts with other young people of the right sort. 
“Those who worry about the morals of young people should 
remember that if we take care of their thinking, their morals 
will take care of themselves.” This means that our holiday 
celebrations should be managed by some institution like the 
church or Sunday school, which has certain community ideals. 


GAMES 


Considerable thought and consideration should be given to 
providing games for the young people in their socials. A 
variety of inspirational games should be prepared to keep 
them alert and interested. The denominational publication 
houses can furnish books which will be useful for recreational 
activity leaders. 


“Games and events in series are found to be valuable. A 
country church in Connecticut developed a remarkable pro- 
gram of ‘Full moon socials.’ On the Tuesday nearest the full 
noon, the country for miles around came to expect its full- 
moon social. Often in the summer, when these events were 


140 Tue New Cari 


held as lawn fetes, as many as five hundred people would 
gather. Many communities have planned a year’s play pro- 
gram with groups competing for honors and score points. 
The people are divided into three or four groups of twenty 
each with the entire evening devoted to competitive games, 
charades, book dramatizations, etc. Records of points made 
by each group are kept throughout the year. The groups are 
sometimes named after colleges, or baseball leagues, or ‘ghost- 


goof types,’ and have yells and songs to support enthusi- 
asm,”’* 


SPORTS 


Country people like sports which are inexpensive. They 
do not have much ready money, and what they have they do 
not like to spend for recreation. Quoits appeal to country 
people. All the equipment needed is some old rusty, dis- 
carded horse shoes and two wooden pegs. You could never 
get country men to engage in golf. 

The young people of a country church might have a tennis 
court at the church or school building, provided they can 
make a frolic and prepare the ground without the expendi- 
ture of money. Those who have been away to college will 
have rackets, balls, etc. 

Basketball, volley-ball and baseball are valuable sports for 
young people because they cultivate co-operation. We have 
seen that one of the weaknesses of the people in the country 
is individualism. Anything that will teach them to work 
together in sport will also cultivate that which is essential for 
the success of a rural community. 


CON TAGES 


It is often through these sports that a minister is able to 
establish contacts which prove of great value in reaching 


*Roadman—“The Country Church and Its Program,” p. 106. 


Toe New! Carty 141 


youth for Christ and the church. Before Jesus undertook to 
teach the woman about the Water of Life, and to lead her 
into living relationship with God, he established a point of 
contact by asking her for a drink. He talked to her about 
water, the thing in which she was interested. A minister 
frequently fails in dealing with his people by not recognizing 
the necessity of the proper contact. 


“A young minister who went to a new congregation and 
played baseball with the boys was not understood by some of 
the older people. 


“ “Tt isn’t that we care,’ said members of the committee who 
came to call on this new pastor, ‘but the other folks are talk- 
ing about you. They say you don’t look nor act anything like 
a preacher. You go out on that baseball diamond without a 
coat, hat, or necktie, and you run around those bases. It isn’t 
that we care, but people of other denominations are talking. 
When a preacher plays baseball he’s gettin’ on cramped quar- 
tersY 


“The ‘baseball minister’ explained to the two faithful offi- 
cials that Jesus won His disciples while they were busy at 
their tasks, fishing or collecting taxes, and that he hoped to 
win these boys for Christ on the baseball field. So one day, 
sitting on a log in Mr. Graham’s pasture, after a successful 
game against a difficult team, the pastor, who pitched that 
day, and the captain of the team, who caught for him, had a 
long talk about winning life’s battles, with the Master of men 
as their Captain. That evening, as the shadows lengthened 
through the clump of woods west of the church, this young 
man selected his Captain for life. He also undertook the 
task of signing up the other players under his new Leader. 
When the season was ended, nine baseball men were ready 
for any assignment in the task of building the Kingdom of 
our Lord in this community.’’* 





*Ralph Felton—‘A Christian in the Countryside,” p. 22. 


142. Ture New Catt 


INTELLECTUAL STIMULATION 


Community gatherings should have an educational as well 
as a social value. This leads us to consider another charac- 
teristic of the recreational life that appeals to country young 
folks. They have physical exercise on the farm. They like 
something that will act as a mental stimulus, such as conun- 
drums, charades, pageants, high school plays, spelling 
matches, etc. Good, wholesome books will do much to safe- 
guard the youth of the country and provide for them a 
recreation that will meet the necessity of mental stimulation 
and at the same time inspire them with lofty ideals. Every 
country congregation ought to have an up-to-date, attractive 
library for its young people. 


MOVING PICTURES 


There are many clean moving picture exhibitions now that 
may be secured. These are entertaining, educational and in- 
spirational. Every country community that can possibly 
afford it should provide a moving picture outfit. It might 
be handled by the church or school, or church and school 
jointly. If the church does not have a suitable place, they 
can be put on in the school building. Of course, these pic- 
tures should be under the supervision of a safe and sane com- 
mittee. There may now be obtained some excellent historical 
pictures such as that of Martin Luther, the Pilgrim Fathers, 
etc., also pictures that are educational along agricultural and 
sanitary lines and those exhibiting the development of plant 
and animal life. 


THE POUR SE. CULO BS 
The church should also enter into sympathetic co-operation 
‘with the county agents in the development of the Four H 
Clubs. There are certain states of youth when some one thing 


THe New CaA.Lu 143 


becomes of tremendous interest. If it is not something harm- 
less and wholesome, it will probably be something hurtful 
and degrading. The Four H Clubs stand for the develop- 
ment of the head, heart, hand and health. If a boy becomes 
interested in a pig, or a calf, or a patch of corn, and a girl 
grows skillful in canning, sewing and homemaking under the 
guidance of a wise county agent and has the sympathy of 
parents and pastor, there is not much probability of their 
going wrong. 


MUSIC 


Church music has already been mentioned, and we have 
made the point that music in the country churches should be 
simple and spiritual. It should come from the heart. In 
music there is great opportunity for wholesome recreation. 
Orchestras may be formed. Duets, trios, quartets and group 
choruses will give an opportunity for fun as well as culture. 
Community singing can be made a factor of great social and 
recreational value ard at the same time young people will be 
trained in music which can be capitalized to help the public 
service. Rev. John Mettam, of Money Creek, Minnesota, 
tells the following: 


“For three summers we have held outdoor Sunday evening 
services, during the months of July and August, on the lawns 
of various farm homes, scattered all over the circuit. 

“For the past two summers we have done some pageantry 
work in connection. The pageants used were “The Triumph 
of Peace,’ ‘The Challenge of the Cross,’ “The Good Samari- 
tan,’ and ‘The Ten Virgins.’ Ours is only a small com- 
munity, but when the young people put on their pageants and 
musicals over five hundred people will be out to the service. 

“It must not be thought that this is just a religious show. 
The devotional and worship side is always put first. It is a 
good thing for the young people taking part too. They find 
a real place of usefulness on this occasion. The lessons are 


144 Tue New Car 


driven home to the hearts of the people in so vivid a way that 
they cannot be easily forgotten. 

“Our opening service last summer was largely musical. 
The McKinley choir from Winona (twenty miles distant) 
came out and sang with the local chorus. A pasture with two 
small hills was selected, one choir being placed on each hill. 
They sang a number of pieces antiphonally. Afterward they 
were brought together and finished the service with the “Hal- 
lelujah Chorus.’ 

“When we compare the numbers who attend our lawn serv- 
ices with the few who would ordinarily attend our little 
church on Sunday evenings in summer, and also the good in-- 
fluences of the meetings on the community, it seems to us 
very much worth while.’’* 


NEVER COMMERCIALIZE 


Young people’s socials should never be commercialized. 
Money for benevolences and other religious projects should 
be raised by gifts of stewardship rather than by exploiting 
the spirit of play. It cheapens the sacredness of giving and 
at the same time robs the gathering of its social benefits and 


blessings. 
RECREATION ROR GALE 


Recreational life should be not only for the young people, 
but for all members of the community. Rural psychology is 
different from urban. Many recreational leaders make the 
mistake of trying to urbanize the country social life. There 
has been a tendency to ape the city. Country people do not 
like to throw their time away. They like recreation that is 
useful, inexpensive and stimulative of thought. Country 
people, both men and women, will find it helpful to gather 
for an evening of study of the community in which they live. 
They might put on the blackboard three lists. The first list 
is of the things their community sells; the second of things 


*Roadman—‘‘The Country Church and Its Program,” pp. 80-81. 


Tue New Catt 145 


the community buys, and the third the things which the com- 
munity may produce which could be substituted for articles 
they now purchase. This will serve to help the economical 
situation and will create a good deal of interest. 


Even in play country people like to feel that they are 
engaged in something useful. The psychology of country 
people is expressed in the old-time house-raisings, log-rolling, 
corn-husking and quilting parties. They had lots of fun and 
still were engaged in something useful. This characteristic 
can be capitalized for the church. 


Rev. George W. Gilmer, D. D., of Draper, Va., has used 
it in the building of mission chapels. He gets the community 
together for a frolic. They procure the materials; the women 
provide the dinner and the men perform the work in the 
erection of the building. He has been able to erect a church 
in one day, laying the foundation in the morning and com- 
pleting the building at sunset. 


Rev. J. M. Millard, pastor of the Alamance Presbyterian 
Church, near Greensboro, N. C., in the erection of the splen- 
did Sunday school building saved about $4,000 by getting 
his people together for social days to do the work. This 
congregation has sent forty-two men into the ministry. 

Some congregations have provided money for benevolent 
causes by setting aside a definite piece of land. Members of 
the congregation gather for a social day now and then. The 
women serve dinner and the men do the work necessary for 
the production of a crop, the entire proceeds of which, when 
sold, are used for some benevolent cause. 


Fairs and festivals, such as chrysanthemum shows, dahlia 
shows, etc., which bring the people together once a year, but 
engage their attention and thought for the entire twelve 
months, have proved of great social value in many country 


146 THe New CAaLu 


congregations. Both men and women, old and young, be- 
come immensely interested in an enterprise of this kind. 

The Church of the Brethren, sometimes called the “Dunk- 
ard,” has had a very commendable record in certain country 
districts. In the past they have been able to hold their young 
people, but in recent years the automobile and the picture 
shows in nearby towns have made it an increasingly difficult 
problem for them as well as for other denominations. A — 
minister of this Church, Rev. W. A. Kinzie, of Kansas, was 
so successful in dealing with the situation that I wrote and 
asked him to tell me about his methods. The following is 
copied from his letter: 


“The work referred to was in a rural district just five 
miles from a town of 1,500 on one side, one of 2,000 on 
another side, and another good-sized town, the county-seat, 
of 25,000, sixteen miles away. This all made it a hard 
place to work, as what few people were going to church were 
going to one of the towns, excepting the few who were try- 
ing to hold down the place where I was called. I will try to 
be brief in my answers. 

“Obstacles to Overcome. A weak, discouraged member- 
ship caused by a gradual losing out over a period of many 
years. Every effort had failed. Each pastor before me had 
spent his efforts trying to follow the program of our fathers, 
which was outgrown. The church had lost the confidence of 
the people as far as serving their needs was concerned. The. 
equipment consisted of a one-room, barn-like church building 
without a basement, no classrooms, no conveniences of any 
kind with which to work. The field seemed small and very 
unpromising. Aside from the faithful few who gathered at 
the church on good Sundays to worship, there was nothing 
doing. 

“Some Methods Used. I began with what I had, strength- 
ened the spirits of the members. I called upon every home 
and served every family as far as possible regardless of rank 
or creed. Made a careful survey of the field and adjoining 
territory. Emphasized the place and need of Christianity, 


THE’ New: Gacy 147 


fostered healthful entertainments. Secured the best talent in 
the country and, getting my folks to believe that there was 
nothing too good nor out of reach of the country people, we 
sought only the best. I counseled freely with both old and 
young, appreciating every effort no matter how crude. I 
advocated one church in one community, it serving every 
need of every individual and every individual supporting that 
church. 

“Some of the needs attracting the attention of the church 
were better farming, better roads, better schools, better social 
conditions, more home owners, modern conveniences, more 
money earned and a consecrated life with all of its wealth. 


“We furnished our own entertainment with the help of 
outside talent, put on lecture courses, organized Farmers 
Shipping Association, taught co-operation. Possibly the one 
thing most outstanding as to putting the community on ‘the 
map’ was the organization of a Community Festival, the first 
of its kind in the State as far as we know. It took on the 
nature of a fair, contests in stock, farm products, chickens, 
machinery of all kinds by business men from nearby towns. 
The ladies were interested in their part by contesting in fruit, 
jellies, pastries, fancywork. Prizes were given for educa- 
tional work, day school and religious work. There was a 
‘Better Babies’ contest and a closing with a big religious pro- 
~ gram on Sunday by some of the best talent within a radius 
of several hundred miles. Generally on Friday night of the 
festival we put on a home talent play, which gained for itself 
a wide reputation. Out of this festival has grown several 
others of its kind within the State. But through it all, our 
point of emphasis was the Church; everything must have its 
finale in the Church, and nothing was tolerated which would 
not build up spiritually. Of course, in the lead of all this 
was our regular spiritual program, the church worship, the 
Sunday school, religious education, revivals, etc. 

“Results. The church and the community is united, im- 
aginary lines and cliques are removed, the membership was 
doubled within five years. The spiritual growth was in- 
creased, the community is ready to back every forward move. 
They have perfect confidence in the church and support it 
whether members or not. A new $32,000 brick building was 


148 THe New CALE 


erected, the old house was rededicated for community work. 
The church and its work is outstanding in the State. Old 
and young alike are coming into the ranks of the church and 
living positive Christian lives. 

“This is only another proof of what people can do when 
they have a mind to work together. It was our plan, as far 
as possible, to give every person a job, some responsibility, 
then to appreciate the efforts and not criticize. It is remark- 
able what a community can do when they line up together, 
follow a leader, forget self and think of the good of the 
group. 

“What I was permitted to do, I think any other ordinary 
man can do if he is willing to pay the price. It means work, 
sacrifice and implicit faith in man and in God. I trust you 
will be able to inspire many to higher living and into that 
victorious life which comes to all who will try.” 


This all goes to prove that country people are willing to 
respond to the appeal of an adequate leadership. 


QUESTIONS 
1. How would you prevent young people from going to town for 
their social life? 


2. How would you construct a recreational program for a country 
Church? 


3. How do country people differ from city people in their recrea- 
tional activity ? 


PART FOUR 


CHAPTER XV 


CHRISTIAN TRAINING IN THE 
COUNTRY 


WO ways in which the Church functions are through 
Cae and Religious Education. Neither 1s com- 
plete without the other. Evangelism without religious train- 
ing sometimes becomes a curse instead of a blessing. One of 
the great troubles with the church in the country districts 
through the South today is that the church is filled with peo- 
ple who are ignorant of the principles of Christian living and 
many of them have had no vital Christian experience. Next 
to the Christian home, the Sunday. school becomes the most 
potent agency in the nurture of Christian culture. 


Dr. W. H. Mills, in the report of the Ad Interim Com- 
mittee on the Country Church to the General Assembly of the 
Presbyterian Church in the United States in 1925, says: 


“In the South the community is generally nominally Chris- 
tian, but the church takes little part in the every-day life of 
its people. It is not always easy for the individual among 
us to live the Christian life, or for the Christian family to 
maintain itself in the society about it. Just in proportion as 
the social order lacks elements that make for Christian living 
in just that proportion it would appear to be the duty of the 
church to attempt to supply them. This reasoning applies 
with tremendous force to the present situation of the country 
churches. 

“Tn all our agricultural population of native white parent- 
age, where is illiteracy greatest? In the South. Where is 
the tenancy most numerous and hopeless? In the South. 
Where is human life the cheapest and most often taken vio- 
lently away? In the South. Where do women die in the 


150 THe New Catu 


largest proportion because having come to motherhood, they 
are most carelessly attended? In the South. Evidently, 
then, in the South, church membership is not always synony- 
mous with Christian living or Christian community condi- 
tions.” 

The church is not just a fire insurance society. The re- 
ligion of Christ teaches men how to live as well as how to die. 
Since so many parents have failed in their God-given duties 
_to the children in the country, it becomes a task tremendously 
worth while for the Church to undertake and carry on in an 
efficient way the work of Religious Education. 


THE CHALLENGE 


There are some difficulties that challenge the Church when 
we think of the task of Religious Education in the country. 


1. THe: Bieness or Ir 


Children and young people constitute half of the farm 
population. There are four million more children in thirty- 
two million people who live on farms in the United States 
than in thirty-two million of the urban population. There 
are two million five hundred thousand more children in the 
country than in the cities of America. Proportionately, there 
are more children born in the rural sections of the South than 
in any other part of the United States, and the rural sections 
contain nearly three-fourths of the entire population. There 
are millions of children not in any Sunday schools and mil- 
lions more who attend irregularly Sunday schools with poor 
equipment and untrained workers. 

Methods of efficiency in the cities are fairly proficient, and 
every urban child is within close walking distance of a Sun- 
day school, well equipped, organized and conducted by trained 
officers and teachers. 


THe New Caty tie | 


A good slogan for the country church would be “A Sunday 
school within walking distance of every child in the country.” 

New Providence Session, soon after I became pastor, 
passed the resolution, “No child within the bounds of this 
congregation shall be beyond walking distance of a Sunday 
school.” The church conducted five outpost Sunday schools. 
There were about forty young people, some of them college 
men and women, who gave their Sunday afternoons to this 
work. 

Home Missions and Sunday school agencies of the great 
denominations have a field of service that offers a tremen- 
dous challenge to provide Sunday school opportunities for 
the children of the great rural districts. 


2. THe SCATTERED CONDITION. 


In the scattered condition of the people there is a challenge. 
Much of our population lives in coves and in sparsely set- 
tled communities. The people cannot be gathered together 
in any great numbers. To many of these isolated groups, no 
religious teachers of any denomination have ever gone. There 
may be found whole communities where there is no Sunday 
school and no member of any church except a few who have 
joined at some sporadic effort of evangelism. 


Dr. W. E. Hudson, Superintendent of Home Missions of 
Lexington Presbytery, has found such communities in Vir- 
ginia. About four years ago he opened up a section like this. 
There were only one or two people in the community who 
claimed to be members of any church. Miss Ada Patterson, 
a member of New Providence Church, became the school 
teacher. She has organized and conducted Sunday school and 
has done anything her hands found to do that could be of 
Christian service to the community. Mrs. Hudson has pro- 
vided what is called “Chamberlayne Cottage” as a home for 


i Me Tan New tCaLe 


the teachers. The following is a recent report from this 
field: 


“Miss Ada Patterson has been assisted by Miss Thelma 
Deaton during the summer months, There have been 343 
visitors in the cottage since January, showing its popularity 
as a community center. A most interesting picnic was held 
with an attendance of more than 250 people. A splendid 
program was rendered by the children of the Sunday school, 
and a number of attractive hymns were sung. The people 
entered heartily into the games and sports. A sumptuous 
dinner was served by the people of the community. Miss 
Patterson has continued her work of ministering to the peo- 
ple spiritually and also to their bodily needs. She has dressed 
seventy-five wounds since January.” 


A Sunday school properly conducted in sections like this 
becomes an evangelistic agency of the best type. 


3. SUNDAY VISITING 


Another difficulty in the country districts is Sunday visit- 
ing. Town cousins and friends from another neighborhood 
come visiting; this interferes very much in the regular at- 
tendance at both church and Sunday school. People need to 
be taught that whenever the church is open for preaching or 
Sunday school, there is a very sacred engagement on their 
part to be present. When they fail to fill these engagements, 
two of God’s laws are being violated—the Sabbath is being 
desecrated, and the people are forsaking the assembling of 
themselves together. 

The automobile to many people is a new toy. They have 
not learned how to use it. It will take people away from the 
church as well as bring them to it. The automobile has 
greatly increased Sunday visiting. Among a certain class of 
people, each Sunday is an occasion for a big social gathering, 
first at one house and then at another. An elaborate dinner 


aE Niae GAT L 153 


is served and the day is spent in idle gossip. The appeal 
should be made to country people that they consecrate the 
automobile to the Lord on the Sabbath Day to take them- 
selves and their neighbors to the church and Sunday school. 
Some country churches are using automobiles and trucks to 
bring people to the Sunday services. 


There is a challenge also to the Church to put on a worth- 
while program sufficiently advertised to attract the attend- 
ance of the people and to maintain their interest when they 
come. 


4. Lack oF TRAINED LEADERSHIP 


Trained leadership is needed in the country Sunday schools 
today as never before. There is a movement of the better- 
educated people to the cities. High school graduates and 
college men and women enter professions or a business 
career. Not many country communities have a minister 
capable of discovering and training leadership. Frequently 
ministers do not maintain friendly relations with the schools 
and the teachers. There is need in the country communities 
for educated, cultured ministers, not only that people may be 
attracted to the churches, but that leaders may be trained 
among them. 

Teacher Training Schools can be conducted successfully 
in country communities. Lexington Presbytery has been put- 
ting on in the country churches a very fine series of teacher 
training schools. A group of churches is selected and a 
week’s school of intensive training is put on under a corps 
of competent leaders, the same workers going from com- 
munity to community. 

One of the secrets of the growth of the country churches 
in this Presbytery is the growing proficiency of the Sunday 
school teachers. 


154 Tue New CAatLyt 


The Daily Vacation Bible School, which has proved a great 
success in the country districts, has been not only a blessing 
to the children, but also the means of training Sunday school 
workers, It is practical to put on in connection with the Daily 
Vacation Bible School one or more teacher training classes. 
Some churches make use of the truck, which during the win- 
ter months is used in taking the children to public school, to 
convey them to the Daily Vacation Bible School. In some 
cases parents accompany the children, and when they do they 
furnish fine material for classes in teacher training. 


5. Lack oF EQuIPpMENT 


Most country Sunday schools are handicapped for lack of 
equipment. This is more keenly felt since the public schools 
are getting up-to-date, well-equipped buildings. The four- 
wall, old-type church is no longer adequate to meet the needs 
of this modern day. The time has come when the Sunday 
school must be properly organized and graded. Separate 
departments with separate rooms must be provided out of 
sight and out of sound of each other, just as children have 
throughout the week in day school. The old church building 
can still be used for preaching and as an assembly room for 
the Sunday school. 


A great deal of the Lord’s money has been wasted in the 
erection of churches. Often when the building is complete 
it is not suited to the needs of the congregation. It is a 
tragedy when the sacred trust fund has been squandered and 
generations cheated out of that which was intended for their 
good. A church should be so constructed that it meet the 
actual needs of the congregation. It should be more than a 
preaching house or a music hall. No church building is 
adequate that does not provide for the necessities of the 
Bible school. 


THe New Cau 155 


In Farmville, Va., there was a very ornate Episcopal 
church with a steep roof. Dr. R. L. Dabney, Professor, 
Union Theological Seminary, then at Hampden-Sidney Col- 
lege, was in Farmville one day. He said to the Episcopal 
minister, “I would like to have the privilege of naming your 
church.” 

The clergyman answered, “What do you want to call it?” 

Dr. Dabney said, “St. Rufus.” 


There was at Pamplin, Va., a Presbyterian church with 
very severe lines which Dr. Dabney had planned. Not long 
after, the Episcopal minister was at Pamplin and saw this 
church with its four plain walls and low-pitched roof. At 
the next meeting of these friends, the Episcopal minister 
said, “The other day I saw that church you planned, and I 
would like to have the privilege of naming it.” 

Dr. Dabney said, “What do you wish to call it?” 

The reply was, “St. Barnabas.” 

Almost every person thinks he can run a newspaper or plan 
a church building. The fact is that there are very few who 
can do either. It is never wise for a preacher nor a member 
of the congregation to draw the plans for their own church 
building, even if they know how. The best thing to do is to 
secure a special church architect, a man who has made church 
erection a life study. The next best thing is to adopt the 
plan of some building that has proved satisfactory. 

Books of church and Sunday school plans may be secured 
from the Sunday school agency of each denomination. These 
should be obtained and studied. A committee should also be 
appointed and sent to visit churches which have recently been 
built. It will be able to learn from the mistakes, as well as 
the successes, of other congregations. 

Where it has been imposssible to provide a special Sunday 
school building, curtains strung on wires may be used to 


156 Tre NEW CALE 


make classrooms. At any rate, there should be separate 
quarters for the little folks and chairs and other equipment 
suited to the requirements of their age. 


6. SHORTAGE OF PREACHERS 


Because of the shortage of well-qualified country preachers 
and other rural religious leaders, it is difficult to have preach- 
ing every Sunday, and for this very reason there is more 
need that the Sunday school be maintained in an efficient 
manner. The church building should always be opened for 
Sunday school if for no other religious service. An appeal 
for loyalty to the Church should be presented to the Chris- 
tians among the scattered people something like that which 
was made by Rev. E. L. Middleton in his book, “Building a 
Country Sunday School,” pp. 19-20: 


“Once-a-month preaching and non-resident pastors make 
it most difficult to keep together any congregation. Too many 
people would rather go to other churches to hear preaching 
than be useful Sunday school workers in their own churches. 
To attend preaching at other churches than our own is com- 
mendable, but not nearly so much so as to be loyal to our own 
church in trying to save the lost and train the saved to serv- — 
ice. The very doing of these things will give us training. 

“Perfect loyalty to every interest of one’s own church is 
the plain, unquestioned duty of every church member, In 
our church vows we promised to maintain its public worship. 
People who neglect their own Sunday schools in order to at- 
tend preaching at other churches are sometimes called religi- 
ous vagrants. They do no religious work, but enjoy the privi- 
leges furnished by others.” 


1; 1M cL OO.OLD: 


Many country people feel that the Sunday school is only 
for children. As other religious services are not so frequent 
there is greater need that the members of the country con- 


Te EN ey A Tes 157 


gregation, old and young, join in the study of the Bible. I 
like the name “Bible School.” Young people follow the ex- 
ample of their parents, and the only way to hold them in the 
Sunday school after they reach the age when they think they 
are men and women is for the parents to set an example by 
attending Sunday school themselves. 


It is true that men attend upon preaching services in the 
country in far greater numbers proportionately than in the 
city, but during the Sunday school hour they may be seen in 
groups under the trees, or sitting on the fences whittling and 
talking of their crops and other things. In the cities men 
congregate on the street corners, in the drug stores, at the 
hotels, in the parks and other places on Sunday, and do not 
even go to church. It is also to be regretted that much busi- 
ness is transacted in the cities on the Sabbath. Men who 
attend church in the city usually do so with a good motive, 
because there are so many counter attractions. In the country 
~men are drawn to the church just to meet their neighbors or 
because there is no other place to go. But, at least, they 
come, and their presence constitutes a real challenge. 


MEN? 2¢BI BLE GLASS 


The country preacher should make a special effort to or- 
ganize and interest his men. At any rate, he should have a 
Men’s Bible Class. 


At New Providence there are still some men who linger 
under the trees, and quite a number of them come in late to 
the preaching. The men themselves put on a movement 
which improved conditions very much. The efforts of this 
organization have been commendably successful. They pre- 
pared and read a paper which closed as follows: 


158 THe New Car 


“The old year, with its trials, troubles, sorrows, adversi- 
ties, failures, errors, both omission and commission, its joys, 
gladness, successes, blessings and opportunities, is as water 
that has passed the mill, but by the mercy and love of God, 
we are spared to witness the dawning of another year with 
its opportunities, its hopes, its possibilities. God grant that 
we may make the most of them. 

“May your committee suggest that every member of the 
Men’s Bible Class make a new year resolution to use due 
diligence in being present at the opening of every church 
service, and let us hope, that if we set the example, the 
younger men will strive to emulate it.” 


It was my privilege to teach this class for sixteen years. 
At intervals we have studied books on Stewardship and Mis- 
sions, but the men like the study of the Bible better than that 
of any other book. My belief is that it is well for the pastor 
to study these books and to teach truths from them, which 
he wishes to inculcate, in connection with lessons drawn from 
the Scriptures. | 


MEN OF THE CHURCH 


Another problem in the country is to get the men to read 
religious newspapers and inform themselves about the work 
of the Church as a whole. We have found it a good idea at 
the inspirational and educational meetings of the Men of the 
Church, which have been operating about a year, to have one 
man report on what he found interesting and helpful in the 
religious papers during the month. This not only secured a 
careful reading of the articles by the man appointed, but it 
served as an eye-opener to the men who were not accustomed 
to read these periodicals. I am led to believe that in many 
cases it stimulated interest that in time will lead to the habit 
of reading. 

The organization of the men of the church will undoubt- 
edly prove of great benefit and assistance to the country min- 


THe New Catt 159 


ister in his work. It will create group consciousness and an 
esprit de corps that fosters loyalty and faithfulness in the 
performance of tasks assigned. It is a great thing for the 
country man to be linked up in a vital way with the religious 
movements of the church as a whole. 

It remains to be seen how well the special organization of 
the Men of the Church will maintain itself in the country 
districts. If it does not succeed it is because it does not 
justify itself in the promotion of prayer life, stimulation of 
Bible study, enlargement of Christian vision, deepening of 
religious experience and leading of men out into larger 
spheres of usefulness in personal work and brotherly service. 

To maintain interest in the organization of the men of the 
country church is to give to them a vision of soul-saving. I 
know no better method than for the country preacher to pro- 
claim the real Gospel and to lead them in a systematic study 
of the Bible. 


QUESTIONS 


1. How should Evangelism and Religious Education be related in the 
country church? 

2. Name things in the country Sunday school which constitute a chal- 
lenge. 

3. What do you think should be done to meet the religious needs in 
sparsely settled communities ? 

4. How can we train leaders for country Sunday schools? 


5. What steps would you take to secure proper equipment for a coun- 
try Sunday school? 

6. How would you secure the attendance of adults in the country 
Sunday school? 

7. How would you maintain a men’s organization in the country 
Church? 


CHAPTER XVI 


WOMEN OF THE COUNTRY 
CHURCH 


OT only the officers, but all the members of the church 
N should be put to work. Organization is not just for 
the creation of ecclesiastical machinery. It is a means to an 
end. The end is to enlist, develop and train all the members 
in Christian living and service. It has been proved by ex- 
periment that this can be accomplished more efficiently in 
groups. Young people develop more satisfactorily in their 
own societies without the dictation and domination of out- 
siders, and this holds true of all other organizations. 

The Woman’s Auxiliary has long since passed the experi- 
mental stage. Many country churches do not have an Auxil- 
iary, and some feel that it will not function in the country. 
It has worked in a wonderful way in some country churches, 
and there is no reason why it is not adaptable to all.* 


HOW TO SET UP A WOMAN’S AUXILIARY IN A 
COUNTRY CHURCH . 


1. It is to be supposed that the minister has discovered his 
field by the survey, and that he has made a study of the con- 
ditions. He has a complete list of all the women of the 
congregation. He should then talk over the matter of an 
organization among the women with some of his wisest and 
most discreet lady members. They should discuss plans for 
the Auxiliary, and secure literature from the head of the 
woman’s work, as, for example, the Southern Presbyterian 
Church from Mrs. W. C. Winsborough, 273-277 Field Build- 


*Readers of different denominations will please think in terms and names of 
the women’s organizations in your church, I use Auxiliary because this is the 
name with which I am familiar. 


THe New Catt 161 


ing, St. Louis, Mo. This should be put into the hands of 
every woman in the congregation. The preacher might men- 
tion from the pulpit the fact that this literature has been 
distributed, and also call attention to the articles on the Auxil- 
iary published in the church papers. It never pays to be in 
a hurry in dealing with country people. It is well to give 
them an opportunity to think the matter through and to come 
to their own conclusions. 


2. After due time a meeting should be called, to which 
representatives from some Auxiliary of a neighboring church 
which has a prosperous and successful society are invited. 
They should be asked to tell just how they have worked the 
plan of the Auxiliary in their congregation and of the 
obstacles they have been able to overcome, and the success 
with which they accomplished the task. 


3. Before the Auxiliary is organized, it is always well to 
get the consent of the church authorities. The minister may 
then preach a sermon on the good works of the women of 
the Bible. | 


4. By this time the leading women of the church will un- 
doubtedly be enlisted. A circular letter should be prepared 
and sent to each woman of the congregation explaining in 
outline the workings of the Auxiliary and the purpose for 
which it came into existence. This letter should also describe 
the qualifications and duties of the officers in the local society. 

A blank giving the titles of the officers should be enclosed, 
with the request that each woman of the congregation, after 
praying to God for His guidance, vote for that woman for 
each office which she thinks best suited. There should be no 
electioneering. A day should be appointed for a meeting, at 
which time the ballots should be counted and the organization 
effected. Every woman of the congregation should have an 


162 THe New Catu 


urgent invitation to be present. Unless there is an election 
in the nominating ballot, the two ladies receiving the highest 
number of votes for each office should be declared nominees. 
A secret ballot should then be taken for the election. Try to 
create an esprit de corps so that no one will refuse to perform. 
the duties of the office for which God’s Spirit has selected 
her. All subsequent elections should follow the same plan. 

Never have a ‘nominating committee in a country church. 
First, because people are individualistic and like to vote as 
they please without suggestions from any one else. Second, 
in the country every one knows every one else, and if the 
women will pray over the matter and vote as they are led, 
they are not liable to make a mistake in their elections. 
Third, most of the people in the country are kin to each 
other, and the nominating committee will be put in an em- 
barrassing position. Fourth, by allowing each one to express 
her own personal preference, every woman of the congrega- 
tion is enlisted at the very beginning of the organization. It 
will prevent hard feeling and will probably secure the best 
officers. If the Holy Spirit makes the selection, after prayer, 
the duties of the offices will seem more important and sacred. 


5. In the country, Circles should be assigned with refer-: 
ence to the convenience of meeting. Quite a number of the 
women do not have a car, or do not drive one. There are 
not many driving horses and buggies left. The Circle meet- 
ings should be held frequently, and when the Society meets 
as a whole at the church, it should usually be an all-day meet- 
ing with dinner on the grounds, to which the men are in- 
vited. The officers of the church or the Men of the Church 
may hold a meeting at the same time. 

Each circle should have a committee whose business it is 
to see that conveyances are provided for each member of 
that Circle. Every member should have an opportunity to 


Tue New Cay 163 


attend. A real program should be provided which will hold 
interest from beginning to end. 


6. The aims of the Auxiliary should be constantly kept 
before the society, namely: 


(a) The development of spiritual life through prayer and 
Bible study. 


(b) Missionary education through study classes and circu- 
lation of church papers and missionary literature. This 
should include an intelligent understanding of the work of 
the church as a whole through the agencies of its committees. 


(c) Development of the social life of the members through 
the meetings of the circles and the Auxiliary meeting. 


(d) Awakening of the community consciousness and the 
mission of social service through the agency of the church. 


Country women like to be doing things—White Cross work 
and that which will assist in meeting the needs of the local 
congregation always appeal strongly to them. ‘They like to 
work with their hands. 

The preacher should keep in the background and let all 
suggestions, so far as possible, come from the women. The 
organization will develop very much more rapidly and eff- 
ciently if they are permitted to do things in their own way. 


THE PREACHER’S WIFE 


Fortunate is that country minister who has a wife suff- 
ciently informed about the work of the church and conse- 
crated definitely to the rural task, and who is to him a true 
helpmeet. 


- Most preachers have “good marrying sense.’ The fact is 
that most of them outmarry themselves. A preacher is sup- 
posed to be a pure and moral man, and women love good 


164 THE NEw Canu 


men. Usually they think twice before they will risk them- 
selves with a man of doubtful morals. 


The ministry of some men is marred by an unfortunate 
marriage. These cases are much spoken of, like minister’s 
children when they turn out bad. Statistics show that there 
is no class of homes which produce a larger percentage of 
great men and women than those of ministers. Preachers 
have been pattting themselves on the back on this account. 
Most of the credit, however, is due to the preachers’ wives. 
If a nation is to have great men, they must have good 
mothers. The average preacher is very much absorbed in 
his work and frequently is absent from home. It is the 
preacher’s wife who is always on the job in the home with 
the children. She “tarries by the stuff,” works hard and 
practices most rigid economy. 


Talk about unrewarded heroism! You will find it in these 
uncomplaining wives of country preachers who voluntarily 
give themselves to rural work. Many of them have been 
delicately reared. They are women of culture and refine- 
ment. They often come to live in homes with no modern 
conveniences. They do their own cooking and housework. 
Frequently when the husband has received a call to town or 
city church with a larger salary, and a comfortable manse, 
it is the wife who says, “We have given ourselves to the task 
out here among God’s scattered people. We did not enter 
the ministry because we expect it to be an easy task. I think 
we should decline the call. It is not a question of where we 
can be the most comfortable, but where we are needed, and 
where the Master will be most honored by our service.” 


Of course, some country preachers are not so fortunate. 
Some women did not count the cost when they took a 
preacher for a husband. The fine romanticism does not last. 
There are some whose husbands become preachers after they 


THE NEW CALL 165 


were married who never fail to speak of it, and often 
bemoan their fate in public. We do not know what they do 
in private. It is bad enough for a preacher to be discon- 
tented and discouraged with his lot. It is sad indeed when 
his tactless, disconsolate wife is not in sympathy with his 
work for the Lord Jesus Christ. 


One thing has filled my heart with joy in dealing with the 
students in our theological seminaries and training school. 
It is to find that the spirit of consecration and willingness to 
sacrifice and to give themselves to the task in God’s open and 
in home mission fields is just as great among the young 
women as among the young men. 


In the issue of the “Presbyterian Survey” of June, 1926, is 
an article by “C. P. W.” which I wish to reproduce here: 


TBEING] AG REMEDY: 


“For the many ills of most country churches a few possi- 
ble palliatives have been hesitatingly suggested. There is 
one real remedy,—a pastor and his wife living in the country. 
If for every country church or group of churches there were 
a real pastor and the genuine article of a pastor’s wife 
actually living—not ‘knocking along somehow’ and marking 
time until he gets a call to a town church—but actually and 
actively living in the country in or near the center of the 
congregation, we should soon see these weak churches for- 
getting their aches and pains and excuses, laying aside their 
crutches, and joining with a will in the work for the coming 
of the Kingdom. 

“But how to obtain this remedy for these sick ones? Here 
is the real difficulty. 

“We see Mary graduating from the Training School and 
John coming out from the Seminary, their lives happily 
linked together and the whole wide world before them. But 
will John choose a country pastorate? He will not—and for 
reasons which seem to him good. Perhaps no country church 
will ever have the boldness to think of calling John. He its 


166 Ll HEUNEW CALL 


brilliant and scholarly and Mary is urban from hat to shoe 
heels. 

“But now suppose John really wants to serve in a hard 
place. He sees how church life in the rural sections is retro- 
grading and how land owners are moving to town leaving 
farms to tenants. He knows there is no lack of people. In 
the South there are just as many people in the country as 
ever, only they are a different kind of people. The souls, 
though, are of just the same value. Can he volunteer for a 
country church? Indeed, yes. 

“Most of the smaller country churches and weaker groups 
get their supplies and pastors by the help of the Superinten- 
dent of Home Missions in their Presbytery, and so if our 
young preacher is dead in earnest about wanting to take the 
hardest job at the lowest salary he can write to some Superin- 
tendent of Home Missions and send in his name as a volun- 
teer for work in a small church in the open country. 


“And do you know what will prevent his doing this? Yes, 
when you think a moment you do know. The thought of 
Mary—that is what will stop him short. 


“After all, the whole matter of getting the remedy to the 
ailing country churches depends on Mary. These trained 
young folks are the remedy but the decision as to giving that 
remedy must be made under Mary’s small hat. 


“John says the tiny income and the lonely life will be too 
hard for Mary and that he can’t ask her to share such hard- 
ships. It will be hard. Believe me, my dears, I know. But 
she can do it. I know that too. 


“Will Mary say that it will never do for John to go to the 
country and that people will say he must have gone there 
because he couldn’t get a call anywhere else? 

“Now I am going to appeal to Mary herself. 

“Mary, my dear, I’m depending on your bravery and 
gumption. It takes lots more sense to live successfully in 
the country than it does in a town.or a city. Just think how 
wonderful it would be to be a Remedy! I put my arm about 
you and whisper this word in your ear, ‘Even Christ pleased 
not Himself.’ Come to the country, Little Sister, and be a 
Remedy.” 


THE NEW CARL 167 


QUESTIONS 


. Is a Woman’s Auxiliary practical in a country church? Give ex- 
amples of success. 
How would you set up and maintain an auxiliary in a country 
church? 
How can the pastor’s wife prove a remedy? 


. What can a country congregation do to relieve their pastor’s wife 
so she can give more time to church work? 


CHAPTER XVII 


THE COO NE BWR Ars 0 OTRO ND 
HOME LIFE 


HERE are no more sacred friendships than those 

| which exist between the country preacher and the 

families of his congregation. At the foundation hour of the 

home he officiates at the marriage. Memories of him are 
interlocked with the most hallowed relationships of life. 

If I were beginning a country pastorate again, there are 
some changes that I would make. I would announce to the 
congregation that as pastor of this church I expected to re- 
ceive sufficient for support in the regular way for my min- 
istrations among them, and that I would not accept marriage 
fees. If one were presented, it would be given to the bride 
that she might buy some treasure to keep as a memento of 
her pastor’s interest in the founding of her home. 

It is a pity the impression has gone abroad that marriage 
has been commercialized by the ministers of religion. Young 
people should be given to understand that the privilege of 
performing the ceremony is one which is craved by the pastor, 
not for the sake of the fee, but for the sake of the establish- 
ment of a fellowship tie with the young people at the very 
founding of their home. The promise of the happiness of a 
home is not propitious when the young folks slip away to 
some Gretna Green as if they were ashamed of marriage. 

In entering into that new relationship, it should be hallowed 
by all that is tenderest and truest in human affection, and it 
should have upon it the benediction of their spiritual adviser 
and leader, one who loves them and who will pray daily for 
the happiness of their lives. It is a source of grief that in 
this modern age many young people are inclined to look upon 


THe New Catu 169 


marriage in a frivolous fashion. All weddings should be 
celebrated in the home of the parents, or near relatives, or 
the residence of the minister, or, best of all, in the church. 
If a minister does not accept wedding fees from his people, 
he is in a position to give them advice concerning marriage 
without being misunderstood. 


7 


CHE EO @ 1) 


When the child comes, there is a chance for the minister 
to give to the parents a vision of the joys, and privileges, of 
parenthood. There should be something of a sense of the 
God-given opportunities which were realized by the mother 
and father of Dr. Moses D. Hoge. The following is the 
copy of a letter which was written on the day of his son’s 
birth, September 17, 1818, by the father, Samuel Davies 
Hoge, to Rev. Dr. J. B. Hoge, Columbus, Ohio. 


“T beg leave to tell you that your nephew is pronounced by 
his grandfather to be a fine fellow. My dear Elizabeth is a 
mother, and I have charge of a precious young immortal 
committed to me. ‘Here,’ said she, ‘is another sinful creature 
for you to pray for.’ Let me turn the address to Yous (sre 
You may readily suppose that I am somewhat elated. Per- 
haps I am; but I pity those who on such an occasion indulge 
in all the customary follies. I pity those who receive not 
such a gift as from heaven, and who hear not the divine 
command, “Take this child and train it for heaven’.” 


It reveals the secrets that may help to explain the factors 
in the production of one of the most eloquent preachers that 


the South has produced. He was for fifty-three years pastor 
of the Second Presbyterian Church, Richmond, Va. 


The country minister has the opportunity to impress the 
sacredness of childhood, not only in his pastoral work, but in 
his preaching. The religion of Jesus is the religion of the 


170 Tue New Catt 


little child. No other religion so dignifies or honors child- 
hood. In the story of the babyhood of Moses, Samuel and 
Jesus the country preacher has abundant authority given for 
this important message. God has revealed to us that child- 
hood is sacred and it is recognized as such in all the teachings 
of the Old and New Testaments. 

The Saviour came, not as a full-grown man, but as a little 
babe wrapped in swaddling clothes. That pastor will find a 
place in the hearts of his people who, like the Master, loves 
little children. It has been said, “He who lays his hand upon 
the head of a child touches the heart of the mother.” Dr. 
R. F. Campbell, of Asheville, N. C., keeps a list of the birth- 
days of all the children in his congregation and never fails 
to remember them on these occasions. 

Not only childhood, but motherhood is sacred. This 
thought is beautifully expressed by Tennyson in the words 
of Jephthah’s daughter, 


“No fair Hebrew boy 
Shall smile away my maiden blame among 
The Hebrew mothers.” 


CHILD DEDICATION 


Country preachers should teach their people to follow the 
example of the parents of Jesus who brought the blessed 
Child into the temple on the eighth day. All parents should 
be urged and instructed to bring their children and dedicate 
them to God. The country minister, who has had a proper 
survey made of his field, will have a list of all children under 
eight years of age who have not been dedicated to God. 
Parents should be induced to understand that it is a privilege 
and a duty. 

If they are faithful in the performance of their vows, God 
will not be faithless found. “But the mercy of the Lord is 


Tue New Catt 171 


from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear Him, 
and His righteousness unto children’s children to such as keep 
His covenant and to those that remember His commandments 
to do them,” 

We have the scriptural injunction “Train up a child in the 
way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from 
it.” The Apostle wrote to Timothy as follows: “When I 
call to remembrance the unfeigned faith that is in thee, which 
dwelt first in thy grandmother Lois, and thy mother Eunice; 
and I am persuaded that in thee also.”* “But continue thou 
in the things which thou hast learned and hast been assured 
of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them; and that from 
a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able 
to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in 
Christ Jesus.”+ Parents should claim the covenant privileges. 

Jesus took the little children up in His arms and blessed 
them and said, “Suffer little children, and forbid them not, 
to come unto me: for of such is the kingdom of heaven.” 
The severest rebuke Jesus ever gave His disciples was when 
they wanted to keep children away from Him. 


THE FAMILY ALTAR 


A slogan for the country preacher should be, “A family 
altar in every home.” If the results of the survey have 
been properly tabulated, he will have a list of all the people 
in his congregation who have a family altar and a list of 
those who neglect it. Many parents may feel that they are 
too busy to read a portion of God’s word and to call down 
Heaven’s benedictions upon the home. But there is no legacy 
quite so rich nor one that will be held in greater reverence 
by children during the years to come than the memory of the 
family altar. Henry W. Grady said: 


ANE hrs alg LOY 
fIL Tim. 3:14-15. 


1/2 Tie NEWGATE 


“I went to Washington the other day and I stood on the 
Capitol hill and my heart beat quick as I looked at the tower- 
ing marble of my country’s Capitol, and a mist gathered in 
my eyes as I thought of its tremendous significance, of the 
armies and the treasury, and the judges and the President, 
and the Congress and the courts, and all that was gathered 
there; and I felt that the sun in all its course could not look 
down on a better sight than that majestic home of a Republic 
that had taught the world its best lessons of liberty. And 
I felt that if honor and wisdom and justice abided therein, 
the world would at last owe that great house in which the 
ark of the covenant of my country is lodged its final uplifting 
and its regeneration. 

“But a few days afterwards I went to visit a friend in the 
country, a modest man, with a quiet country home. It was 
just a simple, unpretentious house, set about with great 
trees and encircled in meadow and field rich with the promise 
of harvest; the fragrance of the pink and the hollyhock in 
the front yard was mingled with the aroma of the orchard 
and the garden, and the resonant clucking of poultry and the 
hum of bees. Inside was quiet, cleanliness, thrift and com- 
fort. 

“Outside there stood my friend, the master—a simple, in- 
dependent, upright man, with no mortgage on his roof, no 
lien on his growing crops, master of his land and master of 
himself. There was his old father, an aged and trembling 
man, but happy in the heart and home of his son. And, as © 
he started to enter his home, the hand of the old man went 
down on the young man’s shoulder, laying there the unspeak- 
able blessing of an honored and honorable father, and ennobl- 
ing it with the knighthood of the fifth commandment. And 
as we approached the door the mother came, a happy smile 
lighting up her face, while with the rich music of her heart 
she bade her husband and her son welcome to their home. 
Beyond was the housewife, busy with her domestic affairs, 
the loving helpmate of her husband. Down the lane came 
the children after the cows, singing sweetly, as like birds 
they sought the quiet of their nest. 

“So the night came down on that house, falling gently as 
the wing from an unseen dove. And the old man, while a 


ST seis (UNG Fee CSA ToT , 173 


startled bird called from the forest and the trees thrilled 
with the cricket’s cry, and the stars were falling from the 
sky, called the family around him and took the Bible from 
the table and called them to their knees. The little baby hid 
in the folds of its mother’s dress while he closed the record 
of that day by calling down God’s blessing on that simple 
home. While I gazed, the vision of the marble capitol faded; 
forgotten were its treasuries and its majesty; and I said: 
‘Surely here in the homes of the people lodge at last the 
strength and the responsibility of this government, the hope 
and the promise of this Republic’.”* 


Children who today play about the hearthstone will, before 
long, be going out into the world to try their fortunes and 
their futures. Their lives are now plastic, their characters 
are now in the forming and what they are to be depends 
largely upon the faithfulness of their fathers and mothers in 
fulfilling their privileges of making the proper religious im- 
pressions ; and the fathers and mothers in these country dis- 
tricts will be largely what the country preachers influence 
them to become. If these country homes are ministered to 
by the right kind of country preachers they will be presided 
over by praying fathers and mothers. 


In the “American Magazine” of March, 1926, there is 
given results of an investigation carried on by Mr. Roger 
Babson. He proves from facts and figures that almost with- 
out exception, the leading men in the business world have a 
religious background. He states specifically that every big 
business man, of his unusually wide acquaintance, has had 
“a praying father, a praying mother, or both.” 


In order to prove these statements, Mr. Babson picked out 
fifty representative men—bankers, manufacturers, and other 
business executives—and sent to them the six questions as 
follows: 


*Henry W. Grady’s speech before the Bay State Club, 1889. 


174 Tue New Caty 


Did you have a praying father, a praying mother, or both? 


Do you believe there is some Power higher than human 
power? 
Do you feel that we are responsible to this Higher power? 


Do you feel that we need help from it? 
Do you ever pray? 
Has this feeling of responsibility influenced your life? 


ee en ewe ets he ee 


“Of the fifty men on the list, thirty definitely answered 
‘yes’ to the questions asked them. One lone individual gave 
a reply which was more or less in the negative. 

“Of the others, nine asked to be excused from replying on 
the ground that the subject was so ‘sacred’ and personal a 
matter that they preferred not to express themselves con- 
cerning it. From the remaining seven no answers were fre- . 
ceived. Several were out of the country and the questions, 
therefore, did not reach them.” 


UNITY OF THE COUNTRY HOME 


While the country man is more individualistic than his city 
brother, his home is more of an unit. The father, mother 
and children are all interested in the same vocation. ‘They 
are all partners in the business. All are interested in the 
garden, the poultry, the crops, etc. All work together, while - 
the members of the city family must necessarily be more 
individualistic in their pursuits. The city wife necessarily 
knows but little of her husband’s livelihood, the children can 
not think in terms of their father’s occupation. In the coun- 
try, if there is a crop failure or other disaster, each member 
of the family is equally affected and all of these produce a 
condition of wholesome family life unity. The thinking and 
acting of every member of the home is bound by the same 
purpose and the home is undergirded with the ties of common 
interest. This probably has something to do with the fact 
that divorces are rare in the country. 


Tue New Cari 175 


There are very few divorces in the country, especially 
where a country church is maintained. In New Providence 
Church, in Virginia, where there was a membership ranging 
from 335 to 670 there have been only two divorces in sixteen 
years. In each case it was due to an alienation which grew 
up from the husband’s life while engaged in public works 
away from home. 


This unity of the home in the country also accounts for 
the development of character, efficiency and other traits of 
leadership in the boys and girls reared upon the farm. Chil- 
dren from their infancy have something to do, though the 
tasks may be simple. They have certain responsibilities 
which develop a sense of property value and form habits of 
industry. Dr. Edwin V. O’Hara, Director of Catholic Rural 
Life Bureau, says: 


“On the farm there are a multiplicity of simple tasks that 
can be performed by almost the youngest children. Children 
are not capable of long-sustained effort either mental or 
physical and are consequently unsuited for the industrial 
organizations of cities where tasks have become standardized 
and where no labor is profitable unless it conforms to the 
monotonous routine that the factory system marks out for 
Tie 

There are more children born of parentage of good lineage 
in the country than in the city. The Bulletin on Farm 
Population sent out April 7th, 1926, shows that births on 
the farm during 1925 were estimated at 710,000, deaths at 
288,000, leaving a natural increase of 422,000. Most of the 
children born in the city are of poor or immigrant parentage. 
Not many children are born in flats or apartments, or in 
houses on the beulevards. Many city people feel that they 
cannot afford to rear children. But in the country, because 
they are engaged in pursuits with their parents, additional 


176 THe New Cau 


children become financial assets instead of liabilities. As Dr. 
O’Hara says: 


“Even the small children are of service in caring for the 
poultry and garden, and when they reach the age of ten or 
twelve years they find scores of activities fitted for their 
age, and capacity in which they play a productive part and 
are benefited by the work. Without any prejudice to their 
own interests, the children are an economic asset on the 
Paci 


It is in the country that we find large families and it is 
an old adage that children of a large family turn out well. 
Large families of children are the heritage of parents un- 
stained by moral leprosy. John Wesley was the seventeenth 
child of his father and mother. 


The best dividends of the farm are not obtained in dollars 
and cents but in the making of men and women. ‘There are 
two things that the tillers of the soil get—one is a living 
and the other is life. To those who live in the country come 
experiences from their daily struggles which constitute ma- 
terials that are woven into the fabric of character. Not the 
least of these is the unselfish love developed in their home 
life. 


Country people are sincere and take a genuine pleasure in 
having their pastor in the home. They love and honor him 
and his visits become events to which each member of the 
family looks with interest. The minister who understands 
his people can always make his stay with them a real 
pastoral visit and a blessed benediction. He is more vitally 
related to the homes of his people than pastors of other 
churches, and it will be a sad day when this relationship 
ceases to be of this intimate and beautiful character. 


‘Pape New Gavi ahs 


QUESTIONS 


. Where should weddings take place and who should perform the 
ceremony ? Y 
. Should marriage fees be abolished? 


. What are the teachings of the Scriptures about motherhood and 
children ? 
. Why should parents dedicate their children to God? 


5. Give reasons for maintaining the family altar. 


Explain the unity of the country home and discuss its influence on 


the children. 
. Why are there proportionately more children and fewer divorces 
in the country than in the city? 


CHAPTER XVIII 


HARDSHIPS AND RECOMPENSES 


HE man who volunteers for country church work 
should count the cost. It means sacrifices and hard- 


ships. 


1. It often involves isolation from congenial social con- 
tacts. The minister, who is a college and seminary graduate, 
may have the society of but a few who have been accustomed 
to cultural environment. In some country districts schools 
are still backward and roads unimproved. Servants are no 
more and modern living conditions have not been extensively 
adopted in the country. He is cut off from his brother min- 
isters except on special occasions. Many of the people do 
not read and the country preacher will find himself growing 
stale. 


2. There is much to endure. The country minister will 
have to make long journeys, sometimes on foot or horseback, 
for he will find at certain seasons the roads are impassable 
for a car. He will be exposed to the heat and cold, sun and - 
rain. He may find his work exhausting both physically and 
mentally. Being a country preacher means hard work! 


3. The salary of a country minister is usually very small. 
He may be cramped in buying sufficient books, magazines 
and other things necessary for an efficient ministry. 


“The man who becomes a country preacher from choice 
deliberately dooms himself to the lowest level in the matter 
of salary, the back bench in religious conventions, and the 
humblest seat, if he gets any at all, in denominational coun- 
cils. If the county-seat preacher gets a salary of from 
$2,000 to $5,000 a year, his perhaps equally capable country 


THe New Catu 179 


neighbor, ten miles away will be lucky if he gets a fourth 
as much. In my own state and denomination the country 
preacher is three times as numerous as his town brother, 
often equals him in ability, and frequently surpasses him in 
loyalty, but in forty years he has had the privilege of preach- 
- ing the annual Convention sermon, just one time, and that 
more than thirty years ago.’’* 

There ought to be some scheme worked out by which coun- 
try ministers may receive a more adequate support. In one 
of the denominations the suggestion has been made that each 
church which pays its pastor more than twenty-five hundred 
dollars be asked to raise an amount equal to the excess of 
twenty-five hundred dollars paid the pastor to be applied on 
a fund to supplement the salaries of country preachers. This 
is proposed as a token of appreciation and gratitude on the 
part of the city churches for the annual contribution which 
the country makes to the membership of the city congrega- 
tions by certificate. 


If one-tenth of the money contributed by the members who 
go from the country to the city churches were given to sup- 
plement the salaries of country preachers, every country field 
could have a resident pastor for all his time and city churches 
would receive a large dividend on such an investment. 


4, It is not isolation, nor hard work, nor small salaries 
that constitute the greatest hardship but the stigma of being 
“only a country preacher.’ As has been said, it is the 
common conception that when a man accepts a country church 
he does so because no other form of work is open to him. 
He is usually looked upon as a second or third rate man. I 
have had a good deal of amusement in meeting strangers. I 
have frequently been asked, “What or where is your work?” 
I have usually said, “I am a country preacher.” It has been 


*Dr. Jeff D. Ray—‘‘The Country Preacher,” p. 18. 


180 THe New Caty 


great fun to see myself shrivel up in the estimation of the 
questioner. 


Rev. Tertius Van Dyke has recently resigned the pastorate 
of the Park Avenue Presbyterian Church, New York City, 
to accept a church in a little Connecticut Village. He ex- 
pected to be misunderstood. The Literary Digest of June 26, 
1926, quotes the “Independent” in a cruel statement as 
follows: 


“But the lame duck who can not lead his people, who can 
not even amuse them, is obviously unfitted to hold the atten- 
tion of a large urban congregation. Better for him, as for 
the Rev. Tertius Van Dyke, to retire to the chaste mediocrity 
of a traditional New England parish where the remnants of 
an old tradition expect little and want little but a repetition 
of the doctrines heard by them in a childhood now, alas, 
almost infinitely remote.” 


The contempt and pity in which the country preacher is 


held by the world and even by many in the church is the 
severest of all hardships to endure. 


COMPENSATIONS 


There are, however, compensations. Emerson says, “The 
farmer imagines power and place are fine things. But the 
President has paid dear for his White House. It has com- 
monly cost him all his peace, and the best of his manly at- 
tributes.” The country preacher may envy his city brother, 
but all is not gold that glitters. 


1. There are some men who love nature and are happier 
ministering to the country people than to others. They love 
the open and read God’s revelation in the Book of Nature as 
well as in the Book of Books. 


Rev. Tertius Van Dyke is a man of this sort. 


Tue New Catt 181 


“His famous father, Dr. Henry Van Dyke, preacher, poet, 
Princeton professor and former Minister to the Netherlands, 
approves the step, for, says the elder man, there are ‘thou- 
sands of song birds in the surrounding valley. My son will 


ol) BR 


enjoy this, for he studied birds as well as people’. 


“His father has won a great following by his faith in the 
true and the beautiful and simple things of life. The son 
could do no better than to follow his footsteps. And entirely 
apart from his own inclination, which seems to have been a 
controlling factor in the decision, there is just as much chance 
for useful service in the country as there is in the city, and 
perhaps a greater need for it.’’* 

The city pastor may get more headlines, but the country 
preacher has fewer heartaches. ‘The city preacher may get 
more glory, but the country preacher will pass through ex- 
periences which will develop grace. The city man may exult 
in the works of man but the country minister may meditate 
upon the creations of God. 


2. Country ministry develops the preacher. He will 
preach to sympathetic, attentive audiences who will appreciate 
real sermons. There is a subtle but real influence that 
emanates from the audience to the speaker that may mar or 
make a man. An atmosphere is deadly where people are 
unresponsive or antagonistic. A congregation with itching 
ears which desire sensation and entertainment has a tendency 
to make of a minister a time-serving, man-pleasing preacher. 
People who crave instruction and spiritual enlightenment will 
make of a man an edifying and inspirational preacher. 

Dr. W. S. Plumer said to his grandson, Dr. W. S. P. 
Bryan, who was for many years pastor of the Church of the 
Covenant in Chicago, “Go to the country ten years. After 
that you can go where you please.” I remember that when 


*Literary Digest, June 26, 1926, p. 30. 


182 Tue New Catt 


I was a boy great crowds of country people waited with 
loving adoration on the ministry of Mr. Bryan during those 
ten years in a country pastorate. 


In the country the message means much to the people. I 
know some rather unlettered country men who can tell you 
the content of sermons they heard years ago. The country 
preacher has the compensation of knowing that his message 
is appreciated. He has the pronounced reactive influence of 
sympathetic and appreciative hearers upon his own develop- 
ment as a preacher. 


3. One of the blessings of a country preacher is that he 
can command his time. The average city preacher is, by 
necessity or enticement engaged almost every night of the 
week. When the noises cease and the multitudinous engage- 
ments of the day are over, the city preacher is often driven 
to capitalize the late hours of the night for performing some 
of his work which has necessarily been neglected during the 
day. The country preacher has his nights to himself. The 
city preacher may get more praise but the country preacher 
gets more peace. 


“None can describe the sweets of country life, 
But those blest men that do enjoy and taste them. . 
Plain husbandmen, tho’ far below our pitch 
Of fortune plac’d, enjoy a wealth above us: 
To whom the earth with true and bounteous justice, 
Free from war’s cares returns as easy food. 
They breathe the fresh and uncorrupted air, 
And by clear brooks enjoy untroubled sleeps. 
Their state is fearless and secure, enrich’d 
With several blessings, such as greatest kings 
Might in true justice envy, and themselves 
Would count too happy, if they truly knew them!’”* 


*May’s “‘Agrippina.” 


THe New Catt 183 


I think I can understand the motive which moved Dr. Van 
Dyke to resign the large city church and accept the small 
country parish. Last spring while in the city I was thinking 
about the beautiful country and about the need of the country 
church and there came into my soul a feeling which demanded 
expression and found it in the following lines: 


THE URGE 


As sheep pent up by winter snows 

Grow hungry for the tender grass 
That carpets hills and valleys wild, 

As well for vine of mountain pass, 
So comes to me compelling urge 

To flee the streets and mortared walls 
And rest my soul in quiet spots, 

There lulled by chant of water-falls. 


As memory brings to sailors old 
The strong, strange tang of salted scent, 
The tang of breeze of years of yore 
That ocean waves have subtly lent, 
So brings to me the springtime gale 
From o’er the hills of yesterday 
On winged winds the thrilling urge 
To seek the fields without delay. 


As yield the migratory birds 
To join the northward wing’d race 
On lifted pinions in the air 
Back to the mother’s nesting place, 
So comes to me the pleading urge, 
When springtime flowers deck the sod, 
And breathe a breath of fragrance there, 
To fellowship with nature’s God. 


184. THe New CA.Luyu 


The sheep may wist for rugged heights, 
The sailor hear the call of seas, 
The bird may pine for nesting place, 
And some may feel the lure for ease. 
But others feel the stronger urge 
Than instinct call can ever be, 
Or e’en the lure of scented fields, 
Or e’en the call of spring for me. 


It comes from sight of scattered flocks 
In open field of country church, 
No hand to lift the faltering there, 
No shepherd true the lost to search; 
No voice to call to pastures green, 
“The love of Christ constraineth me.” 
“Attend My lambs” and “Feed My sheep’— 
The call of Him of Galilee. 


LIGHT AT EVENTIDE 


To the aged minister who has given his life to the scattered 
people there are many compensatians. First, there is the 
consciousness that he has not sought place nor profit but 
has answered the call of God to do the task that was hard. 
He can say with Paul, “I was not disobedient unto the 
heavenly vision.” (Acts 26:19). 

He has the consciousness that he has given full proof yr 
his ministry having “endured afflictions to do the work of an 
evangelist.”* 

Second, he will have the joy of beholding the fine fruitage 
of his sowing. Many of the youth to whom he has ministered 
will be filling positions of great responsibility and usefulness. 
One of the most pleasant thrills that ever happened to a 
minister came to a man who had spent a while as a Home 
Missionary in a coal mining village. One day a six-footer, 
who has since become a noted preacher, approached him at a 


*TL Tim:i4 35. 


THe New Catu 185 


church meeting and, putting his arm about his shoulder said, 
“You don’t know me but you were my Paul and I am your 
Timothy. You received me into the church when I was 
eleven years of age.”’ 


The country preacher usually has the joy of seeing his 
children becoming useful and honored men and women. New 
Providence Church was organized in 1746. Seven pastors 
preceded me. I became its minister in 1909. In the one 
hundred and sixty-three years up to that time, there had come 
from its manse two U. S. Senators, one U. S. Minister to 
France, one distinguished law professor, one judge, two 
physicians, two Bible teachers, four wives of ministers, nine 
preachers and four missionaries. 


There are real hardships connected with a ministry in the 
country, but we believe that the joys far outweigh all the 
sufferings. The country preacher has learned the secrets of 
sacrificial living. He has learned how to deny himself and 
his wants are few. The small pension fund provided by the 
Church may seem very inadequate to the minister who has 
been accustomed to a good salary, but quite ample to the 
aged country. preacher who has long practiced the principles 
of “The Simple Life.” Old age to him is satisfying. The 
bells of memory will be ringing. They may recall the years 
of long ago when he had the privilege of bringing certain 
youth, now valiantly carrying on, to know Christ and of 
training them in the principles of Christian leadership. 


There will come to him visions of the days when he visited 
and brought comfort to lonely homes in times of sorrow. 
Perhaps it was to a discouraged tenant farmer whose crop 
had failed, or to a land owner burdened with debt. Perhaps 
it was in the time of sickness or when the death angel had 
crossed the threshold of the home. He is rejoicing in the 
consciousness of the gratitude, loyalty and love of those he 


186 THe New Catt 


has tried to serve. The country preacher may be poor in> 
funds but he is rich in friends. 

The shades are lengthening. Day must draw to a close. 
To the faithful, sacrificial country preacher, the promises of 
Holy Writ are his possession, “but it shall come to pass that 
at evening time it shall be light.’’* | 


QUESTIONS 


1. Enumerate and describe the hardships of the country preacher? 


2. Should the hardships of a country preacher deter or challenge 
him? 
3. What are some of the compensations of being a country preacher? 


4, What do you think ought to be done to give to the country min- 
ister better support? 

5. How can the country ministry be redeemed from the present 
repute? 

6. Describe an aged preacher who has spent a life of volunteer, 
sacrificial, faithful service in the country church? 





O76 shariah 14:7. 


THe New Cay 187 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 


N order that the readers of this book may be able to 

pursue in a more extensive way the study of rural prob- 
lems, I am appending a list of books which I am sure will 
prove not only interesting but helpful. There is good ma- 
terial for the study of country church work, not only. in 
books but in bulletins which have been published by the 
government, college and church agencies. 


Books dealing with the country church: 


“Tue Country CHurcH AND Its ProGraM,” Earl A. Roadman, Meth- 
odist Book Concern, New York. 50c (paper cover). 


“A CHRISTIAN IN THE CouNTRYSIDE,” Ralph Felton, Methodist Book 
Concern, New York. 50c (paper cover). 

“Tue CountRY PREACHER,” Jeff D. Ray, D.D., Baptist Sunday School 
Board, Nashville, Tenn. $1.25. 

“A New Day For THE Country CuHurcH,” Rolvix Harlan, Ph.D., 
Cokesbury Press, Nashville, Tenn. $1.25. 

“How SHALL Country YoutH Be Servep?” H. Paul Douglass, 
George H. Doran Company, New York. $2.50. 

“THE CHALLENGE OF THE CouNTRY CHurRcH,” J. W. Jent, Baptist 
Sunday School Board, Nashville, Tenn. $1.60. 

“Buitpinc A Country Sunpay ScHoor,” E. L. Middleton, Fleming 

H. Revell, New York. 60c (paper cover). 


“THe Story oF JoHN Frepertc Opertin,’ Augustus Field Beard, 
Pilgrim Press, Boston. Cloth, $1.25; paper, 75c. 


“RELIGION In Country Lire” (Proceedings of the Seventh National 
Country Life Conference, Columbus, Ohio, 1924), University of 
Chicago Press, Chicago, Ill. $2.00. 


“THe RuraLt CHurRcH SERVING THE Community,” E. L. Earp, Abing- 
don Press. $1.00. 

“THE Country CHURCH AND THE Rurav Prosiem,” K. L. Butterfield, 
University of Chicago Press, Chicago, Ill. Cloth, $1.25. 

“Six THousanp Country CuurcuHes,” Gill and Pinchot, Macmillan 
Company, New York City. $1.50. 


188 THe New CALL 


“THe LittLte Town,” H. P. Douglas, The Macmillan Company, New 
York ng l7ae 

“EVOLUTION OF THE Country Community,” Warren H. Wilson, 
The Century Co. $2.25. 

“CHURCH OF THE OpeN Country,” Warren H. Wilson, Pilgrim Press, 
The Century Co. 75c. 

“THE Farmers’ CuurcuH,” Warren H. Wilson, M. E. M., The Cen- 
tury Co. $2.00. 

“Empty CuHurcuHes,”’ C. J. Galpin, The Century Co. $1.00. 

“Our SouTHERN HiGHLANnpers,” Horace Kephard, Macmillan. $3.00. 

“HANDBOOK OF RuRAL SoctAL Resources,” by Henry Israel and B. 
Y. Landis, University of Chicago Press. $2.00. 


SPECIAL NOTE 


The reader is invited to join in the fellowship of service to 
the Country Church, as suggested below: 


The General Assembly at Lexington, Ky., 1925, approved of 
“the establishment of an endowment for the support of the 
Country Church Work.” 


ForM OF BEQUEST 
To the Country Church Work: I give, bequeath and devise 
to The Executive Committee of Christian Education and Min- 


isterial Relief of the Presbyterian Church in the United States, 
incorporated under the laws of the Commonwealth of Kentucky, 
having its offices in the City of Louisville, the sum of 


Rasy IM aes: Lah aban ARM had OP APR MECRI YR UME S's We Soh AT. Dollars 
for the purpose of enlisting and training rural religious leaders. 


THe New Cary 189 


BULLETINS AND PAMPHLETS 


(Order these from the addresses given with titles.) 


“Movern MeEtHops IN THE CounTRY CuurcH,” M. B. McNutt, Board 
of Home Missions of Presbyterian Church in the U. S. A., 156 
Fifth Ave., New York, N. Y. 

No. 984—“TuHe NationaL INFLUENCE OF A SINGLE Farm Com- 
MUNITY,’ Department of Agriculture, Washington, D. C. 
“CoMMUNITY LEAGUE ORGANIZATION,” Bulletin by Co-operative Edu- 

cational Association of Virginia, Richmond, Va. 

“RURAL AND SMALL CoMMUNITY RECREATIONS,’” Community Service, 
Inc., 1 Madison Ave., New York City. 

Circular No. 255—“Lirtinc THE Country Community By Its Own 
BooTstraPs,” West Virginia Agricultural Experiment Station, 
Morgantown, W. Va. 

Bulletins Nos. 23 and 27—“Mosirizinc RuraL CoMMUNITIES,” and 


“CoMMUNITY Farrs,” Massachusetts Agricultural College Ex- 


tension Service, Amherst, Mass. 
Bulletin No. 1842—“Piay anp ReEcREATION,” University of Texas, 
Austin, Tex. 


Circular No. 117—“Community ORGANIZATION,” Oklahoma A. & M. 


College, Stillwater, Okla. 

Bulletin No. 54—“HistoricaL PAGEANT,” Extension Service, Cornell 
Agricultural College, Ithaca, N. Y. 

“OUTLINE Stupy IN CHRISTIANITY AND RurRAL Lire Prosiems,” A. 
E. Holt, Social Service Department of Congregational Churches, 
14 Beacon St., Boston. 

“THe Country CHurRCH AND Economic AND SociAL Force,” C. J. 
Galpin, Agricultural Experiment Station, Madison, Wisconsin. 

“A ProGRAM oF CatHoLtic Rurat Action,” E. V. O’Hara, National 
Catholic Welfare Council, Eugene, Ore. 

“WHat Every CuurcH SHouLp Know Asout Its Communirty,” 
Federal Council of Churches of Christ, 105 East 22nd St., New 
York City. 

“THE Country Cuurcu,’ Dr. Henry W. McLaughlin, Presbyterian 
Committee of Publication, Richmond, Va. 5c. 


America the Beautiful 













1. O beau-ti- fal for spa-cious skies, For am-ber waves of _ grain, 
2. O beau-ti- ful for pil-grim feet, Whose stern, im-pas-sioned stress 
3. O beau-ti-ful for he-roesprovedIn lib -er - at -ing strife, 
4. O beau-ti-fal for pa-triotdreamThatsees be-yond the years 
Maw Ray #. 9. Pe Se ee ee 


e . p 
Pore ae : il Maas ERT Re BEES ACTED ES BY 
_ d __ Beas i Swi SN ere Le < | ; 
hi VD be a? J {_é Qeu IR PT Jive ? . SFA | PES 
aS p—_le- 4 y ) TABI BS 





For pur - ple moun-tain maj -es-ties A - bove the fruit-ed plain! 
| A thor-ough-fare for free-dom beat A - cross the wil-dor - ness! 
f Who more than self their coun-try loved, And mer-cy morethan life! 
Thine al -a-bas-ter cit - ies gleam, Undimmed by hu-man_ tears! 





A-mer-i-cal A-mer -i- ca! God shed His grace on _ thee, 
A-mer -i-cal A-mer-i- ca! God mend thine ev-’ry flaw, 
A-mer -i- cal A-mer-i- ca! May God thy gold re - fino, 
A-mer -i- cal A-mer-i- ca! God shed His grace on thee, 


aad & A 
u Fi 
: ha 
t2 x ‘ 





And crown thy good with broth - er-hood From sea to shin-ing sea! 
Con- firm thy soul in self - con-trol, Thy lib-er-ty in law! 
Till all sue-ceS&s be no - ble-ness,And ev-’ry gain di - vine! 
And crown thy good with broth - er-hood From sea to shin-ing seal 





The Church in the Wildwood 









a 
~~” 

1. There’sa churchin the val-ley by the wild-wood, No love - li - er 
2. Oh, come to the church in the wild- wood, To the trees wherethe 
3. How sweet on a clear Sab-bathmorn-ing, To list to the 
4. From the church in the val-ley by the wild-wood, When day fades a- 


a . 4 \ a a -B-» 


oS 








; —— 
spot in the dale; No place is sodear to my child-hood As the 
wild flow-ers bloom; Where the part-ing hymn will be chant-ed, We will 
clear ring-ing bell; ts tones so sweet-dly are call-ing, Oh, 
way in - to night, I would fain fromthisspot of my child-hood Wing my 


a = = 


D.S.—No spot is so dear to my child-hood As the 










Fine CHORUS 
Sf hl SOD Pe PN A REY MSR HS DE Fanecreursr | x 
US See aes SS ee er 
C9 5 te SS mat oa Le a 


dl — e e “f Pie “2 “ “3 + Fe 
St 67070 7b 
lit-tle brownchurchin the vale. | 
weep by theside of the tomb. Come to the 


come to thechurchin the vale. 


way to the man-sions of light. Oh, come, come, come, come, come, come, 
en 





r e 
be fe) ) : te, 
ci D—Are A008 evecare 5 Mm “eR ; 2 | a 
| Ap — g 2 @ (o el Pi 7 ¢e ii 
(aN 3 ; x 
‘SP. x7 > 76 SEROVAR 
Le ‘3 ries 


church inthe wild - wood,Oh, come to thechurchin the vale; 
come, come, come, come, come, come, come,come, come,come, come, come, come; 





Yessy 1-8 oe aoe ee ; 4 
7) a a ith se a A EM ATES ES wl IB 

1 ee” 5 ‘ 11 OYA ARN DO isk 160 TBM © oe ee ea Oat Ul BoC ss 
Lal) NSW i AS GN A “a 


AMERICA 


ee ee 


My country! ’tis of thee, 
Sweet land of liberty, 
Of thee I sing; 
Land where my fathers died, 
Land of the pilgrims’ pride, 
From ev’ry mountain side 
Let freedom ring! 


My native country, thee, 
Land of the noble free, 
Thy name I love; 
I love thy rocks and rills, 
Thy woods and templed hills; 
My heart with rapture thrills 
Like that above. 


Let music swell the breeze, 
And ring from all the trees 
Sweet freedom’s song; 
Let mortal tongues awake, 
Let all that breathe partake, 
Let rocks their silence break, 
The sound prolong. 


Our fathers’ God to Thee, 
Author of liberty, 
To Thee we sing; 
Long may our land be bright 
With freedom’s holy light ; 
Protect us by Thy might, 
Great God, our King. 





Princeton Theological Seminary Libr 


ni 


29 01233 9109 | 


Date Due 


ke re 

oa EE ee 8 
a, Mane RC 
poet ORR EEE 
Resin bane ty 


be 7 ‘ 


ss 


= ea 
, Mu 


gine 


pe] 





ashecsnas Slo 


S22 52 SSS SSS SS SS SSS SS SSE 


SS 
reve ee 





